Castling
by Lady Eowyn of Ithilien
Summary: The war's over, but who said rebuilding would be easy? Naruto battles to determine the role of jinchuriki after the peace treaty's been signed; Sakura fights to save him from himself. NaruSaku excerpts from The Endgame.
1. Chapter 1

**Castling**

The war's over, but who said rebuilding would be easy? Naruto battles to determine the role of jinchuriki after the peace treaty's been signed; Sakura fights to save him from himself. NaruSaku excerpts from The Endgame.

* * *

Castling is a special move in the game of chess involving the king and either of the original rooks of the same color. It is the only move in chess in which a player moves two pieces at the same time. Castling consists of moving the king two squares towards a rook on the player's first rank, then moving the rook onto the square over which the king crossed. ** Wikipedia

* * *

**The Endgame Chapter 1 - Nara Shikamaru**

Nara Shikamaru strolled through downtown on his way to the Hokage Building. He had been summoned for another meeting with the Hokage. Konoha had turned into an unfamiliar city these days. The demands for rebuilding after Pein's attack, the missing generation of shinobi lost during the war, and the post war economic boom had turned the village into a strange parallel of what it had been before.

Missions were pouring in faster than Konoha could complete them. There were rebuilding missions from other lands that had suffered during the war. There were escort missions for civilians displaced during the war and others who sought refuge in the new worlds open to them in this time of peace in the shinobi world. There were diplomatic missions from the other major and minor shinobi villages trying to strengthen alliances and consolidate their power. Three of the five shinobi villages had lost their kage's during the war and the new rulers were working hard to strengthen ties. Upstart villages saw this as an opportunity to rise to prominence.

Senju Tsunade had died during the Fourth Great Ninja War and Hatake Kakashi was elected as the Rokudaime Hokage. Uzumaki Naruto, the Hero of the Ninja World and the Second Coming of the Sage of the Sixth Paths, had been heavily contested to assume the mantle. However, he was still young. The jonin of the village thought it prudent to wait several years before having him ascend to the position.

There were power gaps in every department in Konoha. A great many department heads had perished during the war leaving holes for their subordinates to fill. Some could never really be filled, but the will of fire prevailed.

Shikamaru had been surprised when Kakashi asked him to assume his father's position as one of his advisors. Shikaku's position as jonin commander had been filled by Might Gai, a surprising appointment to be sure.

Sabaku no Gaara and Mei Terumi had both survived the war; though, A of Kumogakure and Onoki of Iwagakure had died in the fighting. The heirs apparent, Darui and Kitsuchi respectively, had assumed the mantle of kage. Rebuilding and restructuring was the main focus of the shinobi villages as they sought to consolidate their power.

Nodding to the chunin guarding the front gate, Shikamaru made his way inside. Tucking the large file folder under his arm, he pulled open the heavy front door and crossed the atrium on the way to the stairs. Like so much of Konoha, the Hokage Tower had been completely rebuilt.

The building was immense. The massive round base of the building rose to a dome with six towers arrayed around the outside. The atrium was a wide open gallery now used for meetings and celebrations by the ninja of Konoha. Immense stone columns rose in two aisles along the atrium. The columns split after the elaborate capitals to rise up into the ceiling like branches of trees. Shikamaru had stood proudly in the center of the atrium on a platform as he was promoted to full jonin. Ino and Choji stood in the front row cheering and beaming at him.

Iruka and Sakura should be about done with assigning the C, D, and E rank missions to the genin squads and academy students. Yesterday Shizune had split the A and B rank missions into two piles and handed half to Shikamaru. He had sat at his desk all night poring over the mission specs and the lists of eligible ninja trying to find the optimal arrangements for the missions to guarantee their success.

Shikamaru wasn't sure if he should be impressed or annoyed with the Rokudaime Hokage's ability to delegate work. With Iruka, Sakura, Shizune and himself assigning the A, B, C, D, and E ranked missions and going over the missions reports, it freed up a lot of time for Kakashi to pore over the S-Rank missions and his Icha Icha books. S-Rank missions were more common these days than they might have been in times of peace, but there were still very few of them. Kakashi had even more or less signed over the assignment of ANBU missions to Captain Yamato, the ANBU commander. Yamato had taken on a lot new responsibilities these days. He was also working with Sai to integrate the Root division back into the regular shinobi forces. Naruto, a member of Kakashi's ANBU, moonlighted as an ambassador to the other shinobi villages.

Shikamaru met Shizune at the door to the Mission Assignment Hall. The chunin and jonin they had summoned for missions were already beginning to gather in the hallway. He waved at Kiba and Shino who were arguing towards the front of the line. They followed him into the room where Shizune was sitting and already sorting through her files. Akamaru padded in after Kiba.

Glancing up she said, "I have an escort mission for you. It's classified as B to C rank, though the pay will be A rank."

"Nice!" said Kiba excitedly.

"May I inquire as to why Kiba and I will have the great fortune of such a low risk, high paying mission?" questioned Shino.

Shizune coughed awkwardly. "The Daimyo of the Land of Fangs and his daughter will be visiting the Daimyo in the Land of Frost. The two Daimyo became friends during the war while they were both being kept in the safe house. The Daimyo of the Land of Fangs loves dogs and specifically sent the request to Konoha because he wanted a member of the Inuzuka clan to be one of the guards."

"Did you hear that, Shino? I'm famous, how about that!"

"No accounting for taste, I guess," was Shino's droll reply.

Akamaru let out a bark of laughter. Kiba whirled on his faithful ninja hound. "Hey Akamaru, who's side are you on anyway?" The dog barked out a reply to which Kiba replied frowning, "Your point? They asked Konoha because they wanted _both_ of us, not just you! They want a shinobi and his ninja hound partner."

Shikamaru sighed as Shino and Kiba began berating each other. "Here's the scroll with the mission details. Send in Aoba, Genma and Raido next."

Yamashiro Aoba, Shiranui Genma, and Raido Namiashi walked in after Kiba and Shino. Shikamaru could still hear Kiba's loud voice. The three Tokubetsu Jonin stood at attention in front of Shizune and Shikamaru. Genma took a step forward and accepted the scroll that Shizune held out for him.

"We have an information gathering mission for the three of you in the Land of Hot Water. You are to investigate the legitimacy of the intel we received from an anonymous source that the Yakuza family is planning to overthrow the Land of Hot Water's daimyo.

"A shinobi village is being started in Land of Hot Water where Yugakure once stood and we believe the Yakuza family is involved. Yugakure was a small ninja village almost destroyed after the Akatsuki member Hidan slaughtered nearly everyone in the village. The Land of Hot Water is located north of the Land of Fire and across a small sea from the Land of Lightening. Konoha is very interested in the affairs going on so close to our borders. We want to discover the Yakuza family's involvement and if there is any loyalty to the Akatsuki member Hidan in that village. We cannot stress enough that no one must know of Konoha's involvement in the investigation."

The three men nodded and disappeared from the room in a swirl of leaves.

* * *

**The Endgame Chapter 15 - Interlude**

_"Hey, Sakura-chan, guess what?"_

_"What?" said Sakura bowing to Ichiraku Teuchi before starting on her ramen._

_"Kakashi-sensei's asked me to be the ambassador for Konoha to the other ninja villages. Isn't that awesome? He says that it'll help me to enhance my reputation among the other villages so they'll be sure to support me when I become Hokage."_

_"That's wonderful news," said Ayame and Teuchi beaming at their favorite customer. "This one's on the house, Naruto!"_

_"Dobe," said Sasuke from his seat next to Naruto. He put his chopsticks into his shrimp ramen turned to his friend. Resting his elbow on the counter, he leaned towards Naruto and scoffed, "Kakashi appointed you because he's too lazy to do it himself."_

_"Shut, up Sasuke-teme. That's not true."_

_"I'm afraid it is, Naruto," said Sakura. _

_Naruto's face fell even as Ayame placed another bowl of pork ramen in front of him. "Even you, Sakura-chan?"_

_"Don't be so hard on Naruto, Sakura," said Teuchi coldly. "I'm sure that Kakashi-sama gave the job to Naruto to help him become Hokage."_

_Sakura put down her chopsticks and waved her hands in the air with an uneasy smile. The glares of the normally jovial Teuchi and Ayame were frightening. "All I meant was that Naruto doesn't need to enhance his reputation among the other villages. The whole world speaks of you as the Second Coming of the Sage of the Sixth Paths. It'll be uncontested when you assume the mantle of Hokage when you're older."_

_"Do you really think so?" wondered Naruto_

_"Not if I can help it," muttered Sasuke._

_Naruto threw his chopsticks at Sasuke's face. "Sasuke-teme, I wish you would quit with that terrible joke of yours about wanting to be Hokage!"_

_Ayame giggled and put another pair of chopsticks down in front of Naruto. She grinned at him and said, "Everyone in the village can't wait for you to be Hokage when you're old enough. Just think, in a couple years your face will be carved next to Kakashi-sama's on that mountain."_

_Naruto muttered to himself petulantly, "I still don't see why I wasn't appointed Hokage off the bat. I'm not too young. Gaara was made Hokage when he was even younger than me."_

_"Neh," said Sasuke. "That's because Suna is pathetic. They didn't have anyone else even remotely qualified. It's pitiful that they had to appoint some kid as their Hokage."_

_"Er, I'm sure that wasn't the reason," said Naruto awkwardly._

_Sakura smiled uncomfortably. "See Naruto, this is why Kakashi appointed you and not Sasuke as the ambassador for Konoha."_

_Teuchi laughed uproariously at her remark. Winking at Naruto, he said, "And as ambassador you're able to visit the other villages to see all the friends that you made during the war."_

_Naruto scratched his head, starting to feel a little better. "I guess you're right."_

_Teuchi placed another bowl of ramen in front of Naruto. "Eat up, Naruto." _

_"You're the best, Ichiraku-san!"_

* * *

**The Endgame Chapter 2 - Hatake Kakashi**

The balance of power was damaged between the major and minor villages. When Konoha, Suna, Kumo, Iwa and Kiri had banded together with the samurai of Tetsu no Kuni to defeat the terrible might of the Akatsuki, more than half of their forces were killed. The Allied Shinobi Forces were comprised almost entirely of ninja from the major villages. Several shinobi and kunoichi from minor villages had joined the ranks, but they were few and far between.

The minor villages weren't quite as minor anymore. In many cases, their military strength rivaled or exceeded that of the once mighty and major shinobi villages. They were becoming increasingly powerful and itching to tear down Konoha, Kumo, or Iwa from their pedestals. So the major shinobi villages pursued every possible avenue to increase their power and prestige.

One consequence that Kakashi should have predicted was the attempt to strengthen alliances through marriage. Many of these alliances were love matches. Others were attempts by other villages to steal certain bloodlines or skills demonstrated by other villages during the war. It seemed that every other ninja in Kumo was declaring his or her everlasting love for a member of the Hyuga clan or at least for the Hyuga's dojutsu.

There was also the matter of marriages of the kages and their top advisors. These were purely political and made the Hokage supremely uncomfortable. The fact he was a bachelor meant that he would probably have to marry for political reasons. Naturally, the Konoha Council had jumped on this. Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu were anxiously and excitedly picking husbands and wives for unsuspecting Konoha ninjas. They were also deciding which of these inter-village love matches would be beneficial to the village.

It could have some straight from one of the Icha Icha books, political alliances and arranged marriages. But somehow having it happen to him wasn't as much fun as reading about it in one of Jiraiya's books. Life could be so unfair.

He had freed up a lot of his time by having Shizune, Sakura, Shikamaru, and Yamato assigning missions, but it just meant that his time was being progressively taken up with matters like these. Troublesome, as Shikamaru liked to say.

Kakashi sat back in one of the couches, his arms resting on the back of the couch. He wore the silly red Hokage hat and had taken to wearing a white kage's haori over his flak jacket in acknowledgement of his lofty position. The red floor length robes that the Sadaime Hokage had worn were just a little too old fashioned for his style. Anko would have teased him mercilessly if he wore them.

Koharu glanced around the small meeting room that they were gathered in as Homura sat down across from Kakashi. "No tea?" asked the female council member.

"Not a problem," said Kakashi. Biting his thumb and concentrating his chakra, he summoned a little pug. "Hey Pakkun, can you get some tea started?"

"Tea?" asked the dog in confusion. "You want me to make tea? But I have don't have any thumbs."

"Then go get someone with thumbs to help you."

The two members of the Konoha Council watched the dog scamper off. Koharu shook her head in disapproval. "As if we require any more evidence that you need a wife, Kakashi."

Kakashi's blank face didn't betray any visible emotion at the remark. "Is that what this is about then?"

Homura cleared his throat. "This is a great opportunity for us to solidify our alliances with other villages and incorporate some of their strongest ninjas and bloodline limits into the Konoha shinobi forces." He laid out a chart in front of Kakashi. It was a short list of kunoichi from other villages. Kakashi presumed that the council wanted him to pick one to marry.

**Kurotsuchi, the daughter of Yondaime Tsuchikage Kitsuchi – Age 18 – Lava Release **

**Temari, the sister of Yondaime Kazekage Gaara – Age 21 – No Kekkei Genkai**

**Mei Terumi, Godaime Mizukage – Age 35 – Lava and Boil Release**

**Darui, Godaime Raikage – Age 27 – Storm Release**

His gaze stopped at the last name and looked up at the councilors in confusion. "I'm not sure how my marrying the Raikage will introduce Storm Release into the ranks of Konoha shinobi."

Koharu rolled her eyes at Kakashi's glib remark. "We're planning for him to marry one of our kunoichi of course. The law concerning the citizenship of children whose parents are ninjas from different villages allows for the children to have joint citizenship. In this way, children from the union of a Konoha ninja and one of these foreign ninja can become a Konoha ninja. Imagine, the Raikage's son becoming a Konoha shinobi."

Kakashi was a bit uncomfortable by the stars in the old woman's eyes. Someone he had a feeling that this law would bring about the Fifth Great Shinobi War one way or the other. Villages were intensely protective of their shinobi's kekkei genkai. Already the village was in talks about arranging Mei Terumi's marriage with Shiranui Genma. Kakashi's classmate had gotten close to the Mizukage during the war when they were both assigned to the team protecting the diamyo. Would Kiri declare war on Konoha if they tried to gain citizenship of the Mizukage's children?

"So, which one will it be, Kakashi?" asked Koharu. "Temari or Kurotsuchi?"

"They're both children," the Hokage said in shock. "It wouldn't be right."

Koharu shook her head. "They're both old enough to marry and young enough to provide you with several children."

Noting the other man's reluctance, Homura said, "Unless of course there was a kunoichi from our village that you wished to marry. We would be amenable to that as well."

"As long as she's appropriate," Koharu interrupted. "Not someone like that horrible Mitarashi Anko."

"Er, appropriate. Right," stuttered Kakashi.

"That brings us to the other marriage requests that have come in from the other major shinobi villages. Naturally we are denying all requests concerning Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke and Yamato. The Uzumaki/Namikaze bloodline is much too valuable to be wasted on another village. The last Uchiha will settle in Konoha with a Konoha kunoichi so there will be no competition from other villages to steal the Sharingan. Additionally, Yamato is the only ninja alive in possession the Mokuton. We will not allow any other village to steal it. It belongs to Konoha."

"What about the marriages concerning Hyuga clan members?" wondered Kakashi. He was surprised that dojutsu hadn't been included as well.

"The Hyuga clan has requested to manage all marriage requests on their own. They are evaluating whether the risks are worth the rewards and will attach cursed seals where appropriate."

"We'll just have to rely on their judgement in those matters."

Koharu nodded in approval. Homaru shifted in his chair. "There are several marriage requests for which we need to decide how to proceed. The secret is out about the skill of the Nara and Yamanaka clans. It was the right move for us to have Shikaku and Inoichi in the forefront of our war efforts; we may not have won the war otherwise. However, other villages learned about the particular skills of those two men and covet the strategic genius of the Nara clan and the telepathy of the Yamanaka clan. The other ninja villages realized that Shikaku and Inoichi passed on their talents to their children, so we've had a number of requests for marriages to Nara Shikamaru and Yamanaka Ino."

Kakashi reached forward to accept the first file from Homaru. "Any look promising?"

He flipped the folder open and read through the profiles while listening to Koharu continue where Homaru left off. "We're inclined to accept the proposal from the Yondaime Tsuchikage, Kitsuchi, on behalf of his daughter Kurotsuchi for a marriage to Nara Shikamaru over the proposal from Gaara on behalf of Temari. Our alliance with Suna is already strong and Temari possesses no kekkei genkai. Our alliance with Iwa had always been tenuous at best. This is a good time to strengthen that alliance. In addition, Kurotsuchi possesses the Lava Release Kekkei genkai. Her grandfather, Onoki, had the Dust Release kekkei tota. If one of their children manifests this talent, it would greatly benefit Konoha."

"Hm," Kakashi muttered to himself as he stared down at the two color pictures paper clipped to the file. He recognized Shikamaru's photograph of course. He remembered Shikamaru's wry smile as he posed for his photograph after his jonin promotion. The other picture was of Kurotsuchi. She looked almost boyish with her short dark hair. With her pupilless pink eyes and small smile, she reminded him a little bit of Anko.

Homaru nodded after his companion was done speaking. "This is a great opportunity for Konoha. Naturally, we'll speak with Nara Shikamaru before we accept this proposal. He is a great asset to the village. If we wants to marry someone else, we will allow him to do so."

Koharu held out a second file which Kakashi accepted. The Kumo shinobi looked familiar. Kakashi had meet the man when Naruto went to confront the Raikage about Sasuke's missing nin status on the other man's way to the Kage Summit. Then the man had sneered at them calling Naruto a 'Konoha dog.' Yamanaka Ino's picture was from her chunin promotion. The juxtaposition of the two pictures made him feel a little uncomfortable; the innocent beaming smile of a fourteen year old Yamanaka Ino contrasted with the serious stare of a nineteen year old C from his jonin promotion five years ago.

Kohura began to speak again, "C of Kumogakure has offered a proposal of marriage to Yamanaka Ino. We need to secure this marriage at any cost. Yamanaka Ino has stagnated after the war, doing nothing besides managing her father's flower shop. Considering her current ambitions, we see no better way for her to serve Konoha than by securing a marriage to this Kumo shinobi. C is the closest advisor and confidant of Darui, the Godaime Raikage. This will solidify our alliance with Kumo. C worked closely with Ino as a medical ninja after war and confesses to have fallen in love with the Yamanaka girl. C even sent her a love letter along with Darui's formal request."

Kakashi glanced up at the village councilwoman curiously. She was blushing. He was certain of it. Apparently the crabby old kunoichi was a romantic at heart. Who would have thought? Kakashi smirked. "Was it any good?"

Koharu blinked. "Was what any good?"

Hidden under his mask, Kakashi's smirk was widening. "The love letter, of course."

Koharu blinked again stalling for a reply. Homura looked at her curiously. Glancing down at the table, Koharu finally remarked, "There was some merit to the poetry." She coughed and demanded, "Where's the tea?"

There was a knock on the outside door. As always, Sakura's timing was impeccable. Kakashi wondered for a moment if Sakura had been standing outside waiting for a break in the conversation. She walked in with Pakkun padding in behind her. Placing the tray on the table in front of Kakashi and the Konoha Council, she winked cheekily at Kakashi before pouring the tea for the three of them and handing the cups to Kakashi and the other advisors. She smiled kindly at Homura and Koharu before sweeping out of the room.

Koharu waited until the door was closed behind the girl before noting, "We've had several marriage proposals for Haruna Sakura, but we wanted to wait and see if she married Naruto or Sasuke before promising her to someone else."

"Yes," said Kakashi, "of course."

"Finally there is the issue of Uchiha Sasuke's companions. They have been granted asylum in Konoha, but Kiri is trying to claim citizenship over the Hozuki boy and the Uzumaki girl."

"Hozuki Suigetsu is a Kirigakure shinobi," countered Kakashi. "If he wants to return to his homeland, we are in no position to stop him."

"Hozuki Suigetsu is a direct descendant of the Nidaime Mizukage. We should use every possible trick at our disposal to keep him here. Uzumaki Karin is a member of the Uzumaki clan and a very skilled sensor. Kiri has no legitimate claim to her. She's a shinobi originally from the grass village."

"So we plan to force her to become a Konoha shinobi."

"Yes," replied Koharu.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Thank you to my lovely reviewers: t0nyblu and 25BAM50! You guys are the best. :-)**

**These are the NaruSaku excepts from my very long ShikaIno story called the Endgame. There are SasuHina and NaruSaku subplots in that story. I've reorganized and regrouped the NaruSaku moments together in Castling, but if you want to see the other characters' parts in the story, you can read The Endgame.**

* * *

**The Endgame Chapter 2 - Interlude**

_Kakashi was sitting at one of the long wooden tables in the mess tent, enjoying the grilled salmon and talking with Sasuke and his companion Hozuki Suigetsu about their own journeys during the war. Sasuke's decision to throw his lot in with Konoha was the turning point in the war. It was genius bringing the four past Hokage's as backup. The last Uchiha was given a full pardon from all the kages and reinstated as a shinobi of Konoha._

_A shadow fell over Kakashi's plate before an energetic blonde sat down next to him. "There you guys are."_

_"Dobe," said Sasuke as a way of greeting._

_"Teme," said Naruto in return. Kakashi merely rolled his eyes at them. Naruto turned to Kakashi and wondered, "I was looking for Captain Yamato, but couldn't find him anywhere. Have you seen him around?"_

_Kakashi blinked in surprise. Yamato? Wait a second. Jumping up from his seat, grilled salmon forgotten, Kakashi called out, "We forgot about Yamato! He's probably still with Kabuto!"_

_Sasuke looked up from his salmon. "Who's Yamato? The only other person that I saw at Kabuto's lair when Itachi and I fought him was that scary chunin exam proctor from the Forest of Death."_

_Kakashi gaped at him. "Anko? How could we forget about Anko?"_

_"Right, I think that was her name, Anko," said Sasuke returning to his salmon._

_"She's probably still sitting on the floor of that cave. I don't remember any other man there besides Kabuto," said Suigetsu. _

_Kakashi contemplated the parameters of a rescue mission. "It's been some time, so the trail's probably gone cold. I doubt that Pakkun would be able to follow the scent. We'll need a skilled sensory ninja."_

_"Oh, I've got one of those," said Sasuke._

_Naruto looked at him curiously. "You have your own personal sensory ninja?"_

_"Yeah," Sasuke shrugged. "Doesn't everyone?"_

_"Yamato has chakra very much like Senju Hashirama's. Do you think your sensory ninja would be able to track that?" wondered Kakashi._

_"Senju Hashirama? This Yamato must be that Wood Style use. That should be easy for Karin then."_

_Naruto rolled his eyes. "I could also just go into Sage Mode or Kyuubi mode and track him down. A separate sensory ninja's probably not necessary."_

_"She's a medical ninja as well," said Sasuke. "We'll probably want one of those too in case either Anko or Yamato are injured."_

_"We?"_

_"I want to go too. It's so boring here," said Sasuke._

_"Me too," said Suigetsu from beside him. "The Kirigakure kunoichi are starting to get really grabby. It's making me nervous."_

_"If we need a medical ninja, we should bring Sakura," said Naruto. "She'll probably want to come with us regardless to make sure that Yamato's alright. He's our teammate. Sai too."_

_Sasuke snorted. "Some teammates you all are. Forgetting about the guy and leaving him for dead for Kami knows how long."_

_Kakashi leveled a stare at the Uchiha prodigy. "I wouldn't be one to talk, Sasuke."_

_Naruto scratched his head. "So the four of us, Sakura, Sai and Sasuke's sensory type ninja."_

_"Karin," Suigetsu offered._

_"I'll go find Sakura and Sai then," said Naruto, "If one of you want to find Karin."_

_"I'll go get her," said Suigetsu._

_Kakashi sat back down and returned to his salmon which was now getting cold. He glanced at Sasuke. "Are you going to use this as an opportunity to run away again? We've granted you amnesty and reinstated you as a Konoha shinobi. It would be foolish to turn your back on that and become a missing ninja again."_

_The dark haired man sighed and looked at his empty plate. "I don't intend to run away again. I'm planning to start over again in Konoha. It's what Itachi wanted."_

_"We've granted you and Naruto a battlefield chunin promotion. You can apply for jonin when we return to Konoha when you feel ready for it."_

_"I was an S-Rank missing nin," sneered Sasuke. "I'm pretty sure I'd be ready for it."_

_The others returned before too long, packed and ready to go. Sakura handed Kakashi his supplies. Sasuke already had his with him. Hence Kakashi's worry about Sasuke running away again. Sasuke was always packed and ready to go at a moment's notice. It didn't inspire much faith._

_Kakashi smiled as Sasuke's new team became acquainted with his old team plus Sai. He wondered if Suigetsu and Karin would chose to settle in Konoha as well._

_Sai looked at the pale haired swordsman curiously as his arm bulged with muscle to help lift the massive blade in one arm. "So with your ability, you can change the size of your limbs and turn yourself to water."_

_Suigetsu nodded. "That about sums it up."_

_Sai became intrigued. "So you can make any of your limbs bigger."_

_"Yep."_

_"So you can also make your penis bigger?"_

_Kakashi gaped at the former Root member. Naruto and Sakura flushed in mortification. This was their teammate asking about other men's penises again. Karin looked intrigued and Sasuke looked completely indifferent._

_"Yep," said Suigetsu, leering at Karin who rolled her eyes back at him._

_"It would still be small," she sneered back._

* * *

**The Endgame Chapter 2 - Yamato**

Captain Yamato stepped out of his apartment that morning with a smile on his face. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, he had finished assigning all his ANBU missions yesterday, Kakashi hadn't scheduled any meetings with him until tomorrow, they finally had a solid lead on a mole placed in one of the shinoibi departments from the leader of Root, and he had a lunch date with that pretty tokubetsu jonin who taught at the academy. Things were finally going his way …

Shit. What was Sai doing sitting on the bottom stair leading up to his apartment? That had to be a coincidence. Yes, it was a coincidence. Nothing could ruin his good day.

"Good morning, Yamato-taicho," said Sai pleasantly as Yamato paused for a moment in front of him. He put down his book and looked up at his superior.

"Ah yes. Lovely morning it is. Now if you don't mind, Sai, I must be going. Places to go, people to see. You understand."

"Ah," said Sai agreeably. "You must be going to the Hokage Building then."

Yamato felt an icy chill of apprehension sliver down his spine. "Why do you say that?"

Sai smiled. "Because Hokage-sama sent me here to save you the trouble of heading over yourself."

"Did he now?"

"Yes," said Sai eagerly. "He also gave me this file folder for you to look over before the meeting."

"The meeting?"

"Yes, the meeting to go over the new recruits for ANBU."

"Ah yes, that meeting," said Yamato feeling completely out of his depth. This was his first time hearing about this. "Remind me again when this meeting is."

"During lunch. It was the only time that Hokage-sama could fit into his schedule."

"Absolutely not! I refuse!" yelled Yamato without thinking.

Kakashi didn't have anything else on his schedule besides reading Icha Icha and wondering who to assign to the one S-Rank mission that had come in last week. This was unpardonable and so like Kakashi. He had been spying, of that Yamato was certain. Kakashi had lain in wait until Yamato had asked Kimiko, the pretty tokubetsu jonin at the academy, out on a date. Then as soon as they had confirmed their reservations… Bam! Kakashi scheduled some bogus meeting over it. Oh, it was so like Kakashi.

Sai tilted his head to the side. "I don't understand. Are you making a joke?"

Yamato blinked uncomfortably. Sai was a sweet boy. He hated antagonizing him like this. He wasn't really much better than Kakashi really, if he treated his subordinate this way. He should just go along with it. "Er, yes. A joke. Did you like it?"

Sai scratched his head. "I didn't understand it, but I'm sure after I think about it, I will."

"Er, it wasn't a really good joke, if you don't figure it out, don't feel bad. So have you prepped for the meeting as well?"

"Yes, I looked over the profiles before coming over here. Hokage-sama even gave me a book to read while I waited for you to leave your apartment."

"Did he now? That was nice of him, uncharacteristically nice."

"I asked the Hokage's advice about courting women. This is a very pretty girl that I would like to woo who works at the hospital with Sakura." Yamato blinked in surprise. This was news. Sai continued, "The Hokage was kind enough to give me this book to help me in my endeavors. He said the writer was a genius."

Yamato felt second icy chill of foreboding. He wouldn't would he? "A genius, eh? Not Jiraiya, the Gama Sennin."

Sai smiled. "The very same."

"Er," said Yamato. "Why don't I take that from you? Some of the Great Jiraiya's advice is for more…mature audiences."

"Ah. Are you seeking the great Jiraiya's advice as well? I've noticed you flirting with that tokubetsu jonin at the academy. Are you seeking to court her as well?"

Yamato blushed. "Why, yes, I am."

Sai smiled at Yamato. "This is indeed good news. If you are courting a woman at the same time as I, if I have any questions about Jiraya-sama's advice, I can ask you."

The ANBU commander could feel his face turning redder by the second. "Er, I guess."

Sai flipped open his notebook. "There were a few terms that I read in that book that I didn't understand." Skimming down the lined page, Sai finally found the word he was looking for. "What exactly is a clitoris?"

Yamato gaped at the former Root ninja. The ANBU commander was sure that his face was burning a brighter red by the second. "Er. It….it's….um….er…."

Sai flipped the book closed. "That's alright. If you don't know what a clitoris is, Yamato-taicho, I can always ask Sakura."

"Er," said Yamato as he tried to imagine that conversation. "It might be best if you don't ask Sakura that question. I'm afraid that it might make her uncomfortable."

"Then, how will I…"

Yamato coughed loudly and interrupted the former Root ninja, "So these ANBU applicants. Why don't we stop in that café near my apartment and discuss them? I haven't look through the files as thoroughly as you have. I would appreciate your input."

Yamato ordered a cup of black coffee as he looked down morosely at the profiles in front of him. Nine ninjas were seeking admission to ANBU. That was a bit more than the average. One needed to be at least a tokubetsu jonin to apply, so that weeded out a lot of applicants before they reached Yamato's desk. The requirements had been less stringent for Danzo's root faction, but that was merely because the former councilmember had been creating an army of drones to overthrow the Hokage.

Speaking of which, Yamato glanced curiously at Sai. The young man had come a long way. He and others like him who had suffered so much under Danzo's control were finally living and learning to express the emotions that they had been forbidden to show for so many years. Sai had been instrumental in providing information about some of the individuals who had stepped in to take over for Danzo after his death.

Many of the members of Root had turned themselves over to the Hokage, but there were still a few ninjas within Konoha who were operating as Root. They had not lost the extremist ideology that Danzo had. If anything it had gotten stronger. There were very few of them now, but they were well entrenched and almost impossible to find. Unlike in the regular Konoha ANBU forces, the identities of their leaders were hidden from the other members of Root. All they knew about these figures hiding in the shadows were three codenames: POSSUM, SPIDER, and DRAGON.

Sai had done everything he could to try to discover the identity of these men. However, he had been unsuccessful as well. The former member of Root was turning into a nice young man with a strange sense of humor. His socially awkward questions were often amusing. Yamato wondered sometimes if he was just taking advantage of the fact people thought he was a clueless drone working hard to reclaim his previous personality to play around with them by asking uncomfortable questions. Clitoris indeed.

As if sensing Yamato's train of thought, Sai glanced up at the other man. "Something on your mind, Yamato-taicho?"

"Er, no," said Yamato. "I was just thinking about the candidates. If any of them are viable."

"Aburame Shino seems like an excellent candidate," began Sai. "He had considerable mastery over his clan's technique. His ninjutsu is formidable and he will be an asset in sensing and tracking."

"My thoughts exactly. We could say the same for Inuzuka Kiba. I'd like to recommend him as well. What are your thoughts on Hyuga Hinata?"

"Hinata? No."

Yamato blinked in surprise. "I was considering recommending Hinata. What do you think?"

"I don't think she is ready for the responsibility. She can be very unsure of herself and relies too heavily on her teammates for physical and emotional support. In a faceless group like ANBU, she would be more of a liability than an asset to the team."

Yamato considered Sai's analysis. "You raise a good point. However, ANBU is not completely faceless. We try to maintain our anonymity amongst non ANBU members; however, within our teams, we come to rely on each other and know each other by name and face."

Sai nodded respectfully. "If you seek to recommend Hyuga Hinata, I will offer my support as well."

"Three down, six to go."

* * *

**The Endgame Chapter 4 - Interlude**

_He wasn't sure why everyone was so excited about this. Anko had been laughing about the wager all week. Apparently his students and other ninja of the village were laying bets about what he looked like under his mask. There was quite a bit of money riding on it. Who would have thought?_

_As Kakashi wandered through downtown with Anko on their way to the memorial stone, he could hear his student's raucous laughter coming from the Dango shop near the Hokage Building._

_Naruto's voice was always the loudest. "Blimp lips. It's blimp lips. I'd put a thousand ryos on it."_

_He could just make out Sasuke's sneering reply, "It's obviously not blimp lips, dobe. We would be able to tell even with the mask on. Put me down for a thousand ryos for buck teeth, Sai."_

_Sakura giggled uncontrollably from inside the shop. Anko elbowed him in the side with a knowing smirk. 'Blimp lips?' she mouthed to him. _

_Kakashi almost stopped in his tracks when he heard Sai's cool logical voice join in the conversation. Who all was in on this? "I think it's bad cold sores from a venereal disease."_

_Anko raised an eyebrow._

_The voices of Sasuke's companions from the Sound Village had joined in the fun too. Karin remarked, "He's probably just embarrassed about a cut on his face from a mission or something. He covers the one through his eye too."_

_Suigetsu retorted, "No, he covers his eye because otherwise his Sharingan would be permanently activated and drain his chakra. A thousand ryos on weird nose hair."_

_"Eh, Sakura, you haven't put in your bet yet. What should I put you down for?" asked Naruto._

_"A weird mask tan."_

_"Oh come on, Sakura-chan! That's so obvious. You can do better than that!"_

_Sakura giggled and said, "I'm not putting my money on blimp lips, Naruto, if that's what you're asking."_

_As he and Anko wandered downtown to the memorial stone, she mused, "You better not have any cold sores from herpes. If so, I'll end you."_

_"Er, no herpes," said Kakashi. "Are you in the betting pool then, Anko?"_

_"Yep. I know for a fact that you have an adorable dimple on your left cheek when you smile. That's what I'm down for. I also have a number of bogus bids out to weed out the competition. With the winnings I'll get from the bid I'll probably be able to buy a house."_

_"Wow," said Kakashi. Wrapping an arm around her waist, he wondered, "So, what's my prize for giving you the inside information?"_

_"Why don't you stop by my house later tonight and find out?"_


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Thank you to my lovely reviewers: Matatabi-chan, Lonely Athena and 25BAM50! You guys are the best. :-)**

* * *

**The Endgame Chapter 5 - Hatake Kakashi**

"This will be a good experience for the academy students. Normally we would assign these six D-Rank missions to six separate genin cells, but we can optimize our resources by assigning them out to groups of academy students. I've spoken with Kimiko and Choji and they've volunteered to take out two groups of three academy students."

Kakashi leaned back in his chair. "Do we need to get substitutes for the teachers then?"

He must have been mistaken, but was that a flash of guilt in Sakura's eyes? "Yes. I've spoken with Ino and she's volunteered to watch Choji's class while he's out of the village. We're planning to have the remainder of Kimiko's class join with Choji's during that time."

The Hokage blinked in surprise. "You're giving Ino two academy classes? I don't envy her. Kimiko's class is really rowdy."

"I'm hoping this will make the T&I division look better to her."

Kakashi snorted, "Or she'll be afraid to ever leave the flower shop again."

"That too," said Sakura. "I'm getting worried about her. She's not sleeping well and she's putting on weight."

Kakashi sighed, "I've seen this happen before. I had a friend who behaved the same way after the Third Shinobi World War. I can order a psych evaluation and talk with her about her options."

Sakura ran a hand through her hair. "This is Ino we're talking about. She used to administer the psych evaluations. The psychologists won't get anything out of her that she doesn't want to tell. She's one of the most skilled members of the Yamanaka clan."

"I suppose you're right," said Kakashi. "Those Yamanaka are stubborn."

Sakura glanced out the window. "It's almost lunchtime. I'm meeting Naruto for lunch. Are we all done then?"

Kakashi frowned. "Yeah. Give Naruto my regards."

"Do you have any plans for lunch?"

"I scheduled a meeting during lunch actually."

Blinking in surprise, Sakura wondered, "Why during lunch? You don't have any other meetings today. Why didn't you make it … at any other time?"

Kakashi shrugged. "I like giving Yamato a hard time."

She waved before slipping out the door and out of the building for lunch. He didn't have to wait long at all until there was a knock on the door and Sai and Yamato walked in. From Yamato's harsh stare, the Hokage had a feeling that he had been caught. Yamato had figured out his little practical joke.

Unlike Sakura, who sat in the chair next to him behind his desk, Yamato and Sai sat across the desk from him in the two wooden chairs. Yamato stared him down meaningfully. He must have still been upset about that date that Kakashi had interfered with.

"Have you had a chance to review the applications then?" wondered Kakashi.

"Yeah," said Yamato. He nodded to Sai who flipped the three profiles open and slid them across the table to Kakashi. "We'd like to recommend Aburame Shino, Inuzuka Kiba, and Hyuga Hinata for ANBU."

Kakashi nodded his head as he slid the papers towards him. "We'll give the new applicants the usual one month probationary period before they're fully inducted. Have you identified the teams that you would like to place them on?"

"Yes," said Sai. "Shino'll go on Team Four. Hyuga Tokumo was only recently promoted to captain, but I think he and Shino will work well together to make Team Four a strong tracking team. Kiba will do well on Naruto's team. They don't have a strong tracker on that team. I'm going to put Hinata on Sasuke's team."

"I agree with Sai's proposal," said Yamato. "We discussed team placements already but wanted to run them by you first."

"I agree with your recommendations for ANBU and your preliminary team placements," the Hokage nodded.

Sai nodded and stood up from his seat. He looked at Yamato, who was glaring at Kakashi. "Why don't you go ahead, Sai? I want to catch up with Hokage-sama."

Sai nodded before tucking the folders and Kakashi's book under his arm and heading out.

Yamato crossed his arms over his chest and glared at Kakashi. "You really shouldn't be giving him those books, Kakashi. You're going to give him all the wrong ideas about love and courtship."

"What do you mean?" wondered the Hokage innocently

"He asked me this morning…"

Kakashi noticed Yamato's blush and pause. "Asked you what?"

"Oh, never mind."

Kakashi leaned back in his chair. "I'm sorry that you had to miss your date with that pretty tokubetsu jonin from the academy. But this was really the only time that I had available."

"Oh really," said Yamato, raising his voice in his annoyance. "I guess you have lots of important meetings this afternoon with your Icha Icha Tactics book."

"No Icha Icha today," said Kakashi leaning back and folding his arms behind his head. "Lots of meetings with lots of people. I'm an important figure for the village, you know."

"Well I'll just ask Kimiko to dinner instead."

"Dinner?" wondered Kakashi. "That might be tricky. She's got a debriefing this evening with Iruka to prepare the academy students for the mission they'll be taking outside of the village tomorrow morning."

Yamato narrowed his eyes. "Outside the village? How long do you expect them to be outside the village on this mission? Why on earth are you sending academy students on missions outside the village? That's supremely irresponsible, even for you."

Kakashi raised his one visible eyebrow. "It's just training really. They'll be collecting plants, nothing dangerous. It'll be a good learning experience for all involved. Four days outside of the village camping under the stars."

"You're despicable. I would have never thought that you could be so devious and underhanded."

Kakashi held up his hands to placate his friend. "Don't blame me. It was Sakura's idea."

"And I guess it was her idea too for our ANBU meeting to be during lunch."

"No, that was my idea."

* * *

**The Endgame Chapter 7 – Interlude**

_Sasuke sat at the edge of the dock over the lake in the Uchiha compound. Karin stood on the edge of the deck next to him yelling at Suigetsu as their friend frolicked around in the water. Sakura and Naruto lay on the dock behind him under an umbrella that she had put up. They were reading an Uzumaki scroll about sealing techniques together. Sasuke was grateful that they weren't bothering him._

_"Why don't you just leave him alone, Karin," said Sasuke. "He's half-fish anyway."_

_Karin huffed and sat down next to Sasuke on the deck. "I don't understand how his bloodline works at all."_

_Sakura chuckled from behind them. "I don't understand how any of your bloodlines work. Sasuke has a freaky dojutsu, Naruto's a stamina freak, you can heal people by having them suck your chakra, and Suigetsu can turn his body to water. All of it is weird to a clanless kunoichi like me."_

_Naruto leered at her, "I haven't heard you complain about my stamina before, Sakura-chan."_

_Sakura blushed brick red. Slapping Naruto across the face, she sputtered, "That's not what I meant."_

_Sasuke complained, "I don't want to hear about Naruto's sexual habits, Sakura. Can't you two keep it down for five minutes?"_

_"But we're not even dating!" Sakura yelled, slapping Naruto across the face again. "Stop telling people we're dating, Naruto!"_

_"That would be a funny bloodline though," mused Kain. "Being an awesome lover. Heck, maybe it's an aspect of the Uzumaki bloodline. We do have remarkable stamina and are sexy as hell."_

_"Yeah!" said Naruto excitedly, pumping his fist in the air. "Let's go with that, cousin!"_

_Sakura put her face in her hands. "I still can't believe you introduced me to the Fourth Hokage as your girlfriend. It was—"_

_"Well he asked if you were. I didn't want to disappoint him."_

_Sakura went on, "I get to meet one of the most famous shinobi in the world and you go introducing me not an awesome kunoichi or your teammate or a student of the legendary Tsunade. You introduce me as your girlfriend! Is it a crime to want some respect?"_

_"I totally agree with you there, Sakura," said Karin. "I wouldn't mind a bit more respect from Sasuke and Suigetsu. It's Karin, heal my wounds, Karin, make me a sandwich, Karin, help me track down this random ninja so I can kill him. Never, Karin, thank you for being a kickass kunoichi and my teammate."_

_"But Sakura-chan," said Naruto. "My dad did like you. He thinks you're an awesome kunoichi. He said you reminded him of my mom who was a kickass Uzumaki kunoichi."_

_Sakura pouted. She stood up to sit next to Karin. _

_Suigetsu swam up to the dock. "Trouble in paradise, folks?" he wondered._

_"Suigetsu," Karin demanded. "Why don't you ever tell me that I'm a kickass kunoichi?"_

_"Huh?" wondered Suigetsu. "I wouldn't hang out with you and Sasuke if you weren't."_

_Karin gaped at him. "That might be the nicest thing you've ever said to me."_

_"You are so weird," muttered Suigetsu. _

_Naruto walked over and sat on the dock next to Sakura, putting his feet in the water too. He winked sideways at his cousin. Karin smiled slightly back. Turning to Sasuke, Karin wondered, "So now that you're home, settled, and more or less have a job, are you going to start thinking about restoring your clan?"_

_Sasuke snorted. "Are you volunteering?"_

_"It's a legitimate question," said Sakura. "Now that you're a Konoha shinobi again, the village council and the Hokage will be interested in having you work towards restoring your clan."_

_"Not you too," muttered Sasuke in annoyance._

_Sakura blushed. "I-I…"_

_"Sakura-chan," whined Naruto. "I thought you loved me."_

_"For the last time, I'm not your girlfriend, Naruto!"_

_Naruto's face fell. _

_Karin leaned towards Sasuke. "So what's your type, Sasuke? What do you like?"_

_Leaning away from the Uzumaki girl, he replied, "Let's just say I don't like the idea of the Uchiha clan becoming known for their Sharingan and red or pink hair." _

_"Yeah," agreed Suigetsu. "The colors would clash."_

_Sakura glared at the Mist shinobi. "Are you saying I clash by wearing red with my pink hair?"_

_"Don't listen to Suigetsu, Sakura," said Karin. "He's an idiot."_

_"I think you're beautiful, Sakura!" said Naruto. "Red is an awesome color, not as cool as orange, but it's pretty okay."_

_"Besides," continued Suigetsu, "the Uchiha clan would lose their dark brooding look if they had bright pink or red hair."_

_"I don't mind the Uzumaki clan being known for their pink hair, Sakura."_

_Karin snorted. "Naruto, the Uzumaki clan is already known for their red hair." _

* * *

**The Endgame Chapter 6 - Haruno Sakura**

Sakura knocked on the door to Yamanaka flowers. When there was no reply, she wandered in. The CLOSED sign was in the window, but the door was unlocked. Ino would be heading off the academy soon and Sakura was going to volunteer to help her out at the shop in the morning before she needed to head over to help Kakashi at the Hokage Building.

Sakura blinked at the sound of retching coming from the backroom. She ran over to the bathroom and found Ino leaning over the toilet throwing up. "Are you alright?" wondered Sakura. "We can find another sub if you're not feeling well."

Ino coughed and sat back. Rising unsteadily, she smoothed back her hair and filled a cup in the sink to rinse out her mouth. She turned to Sakura and said, "I'll be fine in a second. I was just feeling a little nauseous this morning. It'll pass soon enough. I don't want to let Choji down."

Sakura shook her head and said, "I'm calling for a new sub, Ino. You're white as a ghost. You shouldn't have to go teach the students today."

Ino leaned against the sink and sighed. "I probably just caught something from Choji's kids the other day. I'll be alright in no time."

Sakura put her hands on her hips. "You look like you have the flu. I'm going to send a message to Iruka to find someone else and then you are going to lie back in bed and I'm going to get you some crackers and tonic water. Doctor's orders."

"Okay," Ino complied meekly.

Sakura sat down at the front desk and picked up a pen and jotted a note to Kakashi and Iruka. She summoned a slug and asked it to deliver a message. As she watched it slither away out of the shop, she sighed awkwardly. The message would take forever to reach them. Slugs were wonderful healers, but they weren't great messengers. She Shunshin-ed over to the Academy and explained the situation to Iruka. She thanked him for the trouble before flickering over to the Hokage Building.

Kakashi sat back in his chair and asked, "What do I owe this surprise, Sakura?"

"Ino's not feeling well. Iruka's finding a sub for her."

"Ah, chickening out only after two days. That doesn't seem like her."

"She wasn't faking. I went by to see if I could help out in the flower shop and found her throwing up in the bathroom. She thinks that she caught something from the kiddies."

"A likely story," Kakashi said winking his one visible eye. "I guess operation scare Ino into joining T&I worked."

"I guess so."

"I'll ask Ibiki to stop over and talk with her this week about T&I."

"Okay."


	4. Chapter 4

**The Endgame Chapter 10 - Interlude**

_It was the second Summit of the Five Kage in as many months. Many faces had changed since the first meeting; many had stayed the same. Kakashi sat in the Hokage's chair at the table, Yamato and Naruto standing behind him. The blonde shinobi was bursting with nervous energy. There was a particular item dear to his heart that he hoped would be passed to his satisfaction._

_The group from Kumogakure had added a new member. Darui, who had been the Raikage's bodyguard during the previous summit, had ascended to the position as kage. C stood behind Darui, his arms crossed over his chest. He was watching the delegation from Konohagakure with interest. The Raikage's other bodyguard was a woman with fierce golden eyes and a thick mane of dark red hair. Like many ninjas, she had been devastated by the loss of someone close to her during the war. In her case, it had been her sensei Killer B. _

_The Iwagakure delegation was not much changed. Kitsuchi had taken his father's place as the Tsuchikage. He had brought along his daughter, Kurotsuchi, and Akatsuchi as Oonoki had to the previous Summit. The Sunagakure group was identical to the group that had participated in the previous summit. Mei Terumi, the Mizukage, sat in front of her bodyguards. They were two members of the seven ninja swordsmen, Chojuro and a girl named Izumi with silvery white hair._

_Gaara folded his hands on the table and began the meeting by saying, "Congratulations on your appointments, Kakashi-sama, Darui-sama, and Kitsuchi-sama. I'm sure Konoha, Kumo, and Iwa will thrive under your leadership as they did under the reign of your predecessors."_

_"Thank you, Gaara-sama," said Kakashi._

_Darui nodded at Gaara with a little smile._

_"I always said that my father would rather die in the Tsuchikage's seat than retire. I didn't expect him to take it so literally." The other kages laughed at Kitsuchi's quip. It was totally on the mark. Leaning back in his chair, the Tsuchikage continued, "We've been restructuring our forces and trying to take mission requests, but we're getting overrun with them. Those upstart minor villages are starting to prey on our customers and even our ninjas."_

_Darui nodded. "Our man power is greatly diminished. Among the five of us, there may be only enough ninja to populate two or three ninja villages."_

_Mei Terumi crossed her arms over her chest. "Are you suggesting that we abandon our village and throw in our lot with you? After working so hard to ensure the future of our villages, it seems like a betrayal."_

_"We could start from scratch," said Gaara. _

_"What would the daimyo think?" wondered Kakashi. "They were tolerant of our creating the Allied Shinobi Forces, but they might take us creating an Allied Shinobi village as a threat to their power."_

_"We'll just have to do our best to ensure our village's survival," said Mei Terumi. "It's these days more than any other that the alliances between us must remain strong."_

_"Agreed," said Darui. "I assume that you'll want to discuss overturning the edict then." _

_The Mizukage nodded. "With the collaboration during the war, many shinobi and kunoichi from different villages formed strong bonds with each other. Our predecessors frowned on the union of ninjas from different ninja villages. During one of the Five Kage Summits of the past, an edict was passed to discourage intermarriage between the villages. If a kunoichi wanted to marry a shinobi from a different village, she would have to become a rogue ninja and cut off all her ties from her home village. Her children would have no rights in the village of her birth. And vice versa."_

_Kakashi sat back in his chair. "I agree with your point in allowing intermarriage between the villages; however, I think your proposal for joint citizenship could pose a problem in the future."_

_Kitsuchi frowned at the copy ninja. "You think villages will fight over the children?"_

_"Yes," said Kakashi. "This law may also become a means for villages to steal kekkei genkai from each other. I think this will damage our alliances with each other and cause instability or even war for future generations."_

_Darui scoffed at Kakashi. "You shouldn't be one to talk about stealing kekkei genkai with your transplanted Sharingan."_

_Kakashi nodded. "I merely fear that this law will be abused."_

_"I see no reason to veto this law," said Kitsuchi. "I will support you in this Mei Terumi."_

_"As will I," said Gaara._

_"And I," said Darui._

_Every pair of eyes at and behind the table stared at Kakashi. "In that case, I'll abstain." _

* * *

**The Endgame Chapter 7 - Haruno Sakura**

Sakura sat at the counter at Yamanaka Flowers reading through missions reports, matching D rank missions to genin cells, wondering how Choji's and Kimiko's teams were doing on their first mission outside of Konoha, and wondering how her friend Ino was doing upstairs.

After she had put Ino to bed and went to get saltines and tonic water for the girl, she found Ino throwing up in the bathroom again. She held her friend's hair and rubbed her back as the blonde girl was sick again.

Ino lay back in bed after having a sip of the tonic water. "I'm never teaching at the academy again," she told her friend.

Sakura grinned apologetically. "I'm sorry that Choji's class made you sick."

"Ugh," moaned Ino laying back. "And they're adorable but so energetic. I swear those five year olds have more energy than I've ever seen. It was like a class full of Naruto's."

Sakura grinned as she looked around the flower shop, her eyes stopping on some bright orange flowers. Naruto had been a little hellion when he was a kid, playing pranks and generally being a nuisance. Now that she thought back, he was probably just seeking acknowledgement of any kind from anybody. She wished that she had known that as a child. Naruto was such a kind, forgiving, and gentle soul. She would have liked to have begun their friendship earlier. He was so good to her.

Little Narutos were a scary thought though. If she ever married Naruto, she was frightened to think what their children would be like. They would probably be just as spunky and energetic as her blonde friend. They would probably be really cute, though, with blonde, pink, or strawberry blonde hair. Ack! Married to Naruto? Having kids with Naruto? Bad thoughts!

She hit her head against the front desk. She ought to stop thinking such crazy things. Maybe she could ask Ino to do a mind wipe on her. She was supposed to be in love with Sasuke, right?

Her romantic crisis was brought to a swift end as the bell chimed and a woman walked into the flower shop. She looked vaguely familiar to Sakura with her shoulder length curly blonde hair and brown eyes. She was a medical ninja too. They had worked together at the hospital for some time. Fujii Aiko was her name.

She paused at seeing Sakura sitting at the front desk. "Sakura-chan? What are you doing here?"

Sakura waved and said, "Hi, Aiko-sempai. Just helping out. Ino's supposed to be teaching at the academy today, but she's not feeling well."

The older woman nodded. "That's too bad. I hope she feels better." She paused at the potted plants, looking at the prices of the hydrangea and gerbera daisies. "I haven't seen you in a while, Sakura-chan. How've you been?"

"Really good," said Sakura. "I'm sorry that I haven't been at the hospital, but Kakashi-sensei just about begged me on hands and knees to help him assign some of the C,D, and E rank missions."

Aiko chuckled, before setting her eyes on the pink and blue potted hydrangea. "That Kakashi, he's so lazy."

"Don't I know it," Sakura laughed. "He was just as bad when his was my genin sensei."

"I bet," she nodded. "Don't know how Anko puts up with him."

"She has the patience of a saint," said Sakura nodding.

"That or she has his wrapped around her finger."

"That too," laughed Sakura. "They're good for each other though."

Aiko pointed at the flowers. "Pink or Blue?"

Sakura pointed to her hair. "I'm usually partial to pink."

"Hm," Aiko mused. "I'll do pink then."

She picked up the flower and walked towards the front desk. "So when are you coming back to the hospital, Sakura? You were one of the best medical ninjas we had. I'm sure that Kakashi can spare you, or at least shove more of that work on someone else."

"I dunno," said Sakura. "It's sort of fun being in the thick of things at the Hokage Building, but I suppose working at the hospital would be nice to do again."

Aiko smiled and set the large potted flower down on the table. "Man, Ino charges an arm and a leg for these things. This is twenty thousand ryo!"

"It's market price," said Sakura.

"I don't suppose you could give me a discount, Sakura?"

Sakura scoffed. "Oh please, Aiko-sempai, you're making a lot more than either Ino or I. Surely you can fork out a couple ryo for those pretty flowers."

Aiko winked, taking out her purse and handing Sakura the bills. "You drive a hard bargain."

Sakura handed her the change and asked, "So are you still working in Obstetrics and Gynecology? Haven't asked for a rotation to a different department?"

"Yep, still an OB/GYN," Aiko said, putting the bills in her wallet. "The little babies are so cute, I can't help myself."

Sakura leaned back in her chair and nodded to the flowers. "I can put some pretty paper and a ribbon around those if you'd like."

"That'd be great, thanks, Sakura!"

* * *

**The Endgame Chapter 10 - Interlude**

_Kakashi rubbed his eyes. This meeting was dragging on. "I agree. Every May 1st will be International Shinobi Day and the major villages will be open to each other for parties and parades. What's up next?"_

_Mei Terumi crossed off another item off her list. Darui glanced at his and said, "The matter of redistributing the bijuu."_

_Naruto tensed behind the Hokage._

_Mei crossed off that item too and sat back in her chair. "We'll have to redistribute them again to restore the balance of power between the major and minor villages."_

_Darui nodded and said, "We should ensure that each village has an equal number of tails. Because Konoha has the Kyuubi, we will assign one and eight to Kumo, two and seven to Suna, three and six to Kiri and four and five to Iwa."_

_Kakashi leaned back in his seat. "My bodyguard, Naruto, would like to join the discussion about the redistribution of the bijuu if that's alright with the other kage at the table."_

_Gaara nodded and said, "That's alright with me."_

_After the other kage nodded their assent, Naruto stepped up to the table and said, "I will have to disagree with your proposal Darui-sama. It is precisely because of the bijuu and the jinchuriki that the ninja world has seen many Shinobi Wars spark out in the first place. I think we should disallow the capture and subjugation of the bijuu." _

_Kitsuchi narrowed his eyes at the blonde man. "That's all well and good, but you'll have to forgive me if I don't take your proposition seriously. How can we allow this law to pass when you who are proposing it possess not only the most powerful of the bijuu but also the only jinchuriki?"_

_Mei Terumi nodded. "The Tsuchikage is right. How can we ensure our village's safety when we are not allowed to create jinchuriki while Konoha threatens us with the most powerful bijuu?"_

_Naruto waved his hands in front of him and said quickly, "I'm not threatening anyone."_

_"Your very presence threatens us," said Kitsuchi. "You are the most powerful shinobi in the world. No village will dare challenge Konoha while you live behind its walls. Creating new jinchuriki is the only way that we can ensure our village's safety."_

_"What does the Raikage have to say on this matter?" asked Kakashi._

_Darui folded his arms behind his head. He glanced backwards at his bodyguard Karui, who was frowning mightily. Her arms were crossed over her chest. "What do you think, Karui?"_

_She blinked in surprise. "Me?"_

_Darui nodded. "If Kumogakure creates another jinchuriki, it'll be one of our children." The other kage glanced at him in surprise. Darui continued, "Do you think we should forbid the creation of jinchuriki?"_

_Karin took a deep breath. "Killer B-sensei and Yugito-sempai were jinchuriki and some of the bravest and the best ninjas that I knew. Kumogakure will be able to reclaim some of its previous might if we reinstitute the jinchuriki program. It would be of increasing importance now that the minor villages are waging a cold war to strip us of our major village status. It's imperative that we create and begin to train new jinchuriki as soon as possible."_

_Darui nodded before turning back to the others. "What she said."_

_Naruto slammed his hands down on the table. "If we create more jinchuriki, the bijuu, the jinchuriki, the villages, and the very ninja world suffer as a result. It would be disrespectful to Gaara, Yugito, Yagura, Roshi, Han, Utakate, Fu, Killer B, and all the ninja who died in any Shinobi War if we reinstitute jinchuriki program. It would show that we learned nothing. This is a chance for us to finally do the right thing."_

_Gaara gazed at Naruto and said, "I agree with Naruto."_

_Kitsuchi huffed in annoyance. "Well I think Konoha and Suna are biased. They shouldn't be allowed to vote."_

_His daughter, Kurotsuchi, nudged him in the shoulder. "Stop being a hardass, father. The others are making a point."_

_Kitsuchi made a mock-sad face at the other kages. "My own darling girl is rebelling against me."_

_Mei Terumi leaned forward demanding, "Say we discontinue the jinchuriki program. What happens to the bijuu? They are too dangerous to be set free."_

_Kitsuchi nodded in agreement. "Isn't that why you became a jinchuriki, Naruto? Your father, Namikaze Minato, was forced to give up his life to seal the Kyuubi into you after it attacked Konoha."_

_Naruto straightened and replied, "Kurama was as much a victim in that as I was. He was being controlled by Uchiha Obito and forced to attack the village. The Kyuubi attack on Konoha seventeen years ago was an Akatsuki attack, not a bijuu attack."_

_Mei Terumi crossed her arms over her chest. "So what happens to the bijuu under your proposal, Naruto? Where do they go?"_

_"They go home. The bijuu were simply summons before we started sealing them into babies. They have relatives and clansmen back in the continent of the summons. That's where they went after the Ten Tails was defeated. Shukaku returned to the raccoon dogs, Matatabi is with the other cat summons, Isobu's with the turtles, Son Goku is with the monkeys, Kokuo to the horses, Saiken to the slugs, Chomei is with the beetles, and Gyuki is with the octopi."_

_Kitsuchi blinked in surprise. "You know all their names?"_

_Naruto nodded. "Yeah. They've introduced themselves to me again when I signed their scrolls."_

_The Tsuchikage narrowed his eyes. "That's very convenient for Konoha. You truly are the Second Coming of the Sage of the Six Paths."_

_Naruto laughed. "I'm just Uzumaki Naruto."_

_ "So should Iwa just surrender to you now?" Kitsuchi snapped._

_Naruto looked at the Tsuchikage in surprise. "I'm not going to attack you. I don't know why you all think I will. I thought we all learned to trust each other during the war."_

_"Konoha having control over one bijuu is bad enough," said Darui. "And now we hear that you have control over all the others. You'll have to forgive us if we're a little nervous after what happened during the war, when one of founders of Konoha went mad with power and almost destroyed the entire Shinobi World."_

_Kitsuchi slammed his land on the table. "Let's take a vote then for continuing the jinchuiki program. All in favor?"_

_"Aye," said Darui._

_"Aye," said Mei Terumi._

_"Nay," said Gaara._

_"Nay," said Kakashi._

_"Aye," said Kitsuchi._

_"Well we can't pass the motion when there is dissent among the kage," said Mei Terumi. "I propose that we postpone the vote on this matter until we've had time to give this more thought and discuss it with our advisors. We'll ask Naruto to come back to us with a new proposal in two months' time. I don't wish to delay the vote any longer than that."_

_Kakashi cleared his throat. "I agree with the Mizukage. I will also like to make a motion that outlaws any jinchuriki to be created until we have met again and come to a resolution."_

_Darui nodded. "Alright."_

_Kitsuchi nodded his head. "I will agree to that."_

_Mei Terumi said, "As will I."_

_"And I," said Gaara._

_"And I, of course," said Kakashi._


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: **Hey everyone, I wanted to let you know that I've restructured the story a little bit. So Chapters 1-4 have changed. I've put a little more background to set the scene and I've structured it to resemble the Endgame more where I alternate Character POV and Interludes.**

**Thank you to narusaku for the lovely review for the last chapter.**

* * *

**The Endgame Chapter 9 - Haruno Sakura**

"Sakura-chan! Let's go out for ramen!"

Sakura jumped in shock at seeing Naruto crouching in the window. She was in a conference room on the third floor of the spiral tower that housed Kakashi's office in the Hokage building. Naruto was wearing his ANBU fatigues, flak jacket, and a wide grin.

"Hey, what are you doing crouching in the window, baka!" she yelled hitting him on the head.

Naruto rubbed his head. "Just thought I'd drop in. It's almost lunchtime anyway. So how about it?"

Sakura twirled around in the swivel chair and crossed her arms. Raising her eyebrows, she said, "You know that you can eat things other than ramen. It's actually an evolutionary necessity. One cannot live on ramen alone."

Naruto swung into the room. He lifted her out of her chair and carried her bridal style out of the room. "You'll have to take that up with Teuchi. He says that he'll go out of business if I stop eating his ramen."

Sakura shook her head at him, putting an arm around his shoulder, "That's because you probably account for 90% of Ichiraku's profits."

"Iruka-sensei eats there a lot too," said Naruto. "I don't see you giving him a hard time about it."

"Well that's because he's soft on Ayame," countered Sakura.

Naruto paused for a moment in thought. "You may be right."

Sakura rolled her eyes at him. "Why don't you put me down, Naruto? We can get there faster if we Shinshin over there."

Naruto placed her back on her feet and in a flash of smoke, they were at Ichiraku ramen. "Old man, two orders of Pork ramen for me and a vegetable ramen for Sakura!"

Ayame had just finished putting the fishcakes on an order of pork ramen when Naruto appeared. Teuchi placed the vegetable ramen in front of Sakura and Ayame put the pork in front of Naruto.

"Thanks!" said Naruto before digging in with gusto.

Sakura glanced down at her ramen in surprise. "Do you have a summoning contract with ramen or something, Teuchi-san? Because that was really fast," asked Sakura.

Teuchi laughed at that and said, "No, we just have Naruto's schedule down to a science. He's got an ANBU meeting on Tuesday before lunch and then he picks you up and you're usually here by 12:15 for lunch."

"Wow," said Naruto looking up at his friend with a mouth full of noodles. "That's amazing."

"Naruto!" said Sakura hitting him over the head. "It's not good for a shinobi to be that predictable. You could get assassinated really easily if someone pays any attention!"

Ayame laughed at the pair of them.

Naruto pointed to Sakura's ramen. "Well then you're just as predictable as I am. They had your ramen ready too didn't they?"

Sakura blinked in surprise and Teuchi laughed, "He's got you there, Sakura."

The pink haired kunoichi pouted and went back to her ramen morosely. There was a little breeze as the flap to the stand was pulled back and someone else stepped in. It was Umino Iruka. "I thought I'd find you here, Naruto."

Sakura banged her head on the table. Her teammate was so predictable.

"The usual, Iruka?" asked Ayame.

"Yeah, thanks, Ayame," said the academy teacher smiling at the woman. Ayame blushed and went to prepare Iruka's ramen. Naruto watched all this considering.

Iruka sat on the stood next to Naruto. "So I'm trying to get a couple jonin together to speak with the students at the academy. Would you and Sakura like to do it?"

"Sure!" said Naruto. "That sounds like fun!"

Sakura smiled at the academy teacher. "Sure, Iruka-sensei. I'll do it too."

Iruka smiled. "That's great news. The students at the academy are always talking about you guys, I'm sure they'd be thrilled to have you in class."

Naruto grinned. "Hear that, Sakura? I'm famous!"

Sakura ignored him and asked, "So, Iruka-sensei, who else is going?"

Iruka was distracted for a moment when Ayame put his bowl down in front of him. "Thanks, Ayame."

"Is it mostly other jonin from our year at the academy? A lot of us were promoted after the war," said Sakura.

Iruka nodded, "Shikamaru said that he will and Inuzuka Kiba too. The kids begged me to ask. They really wanted to meet Akamaru. Then there's the two of you."

"Why don't you ask Sasuke?" said Naruto. "I'm sure the kids would like to meet him too. Go Team Seven!"

Sakura looked uneasy. "Do you think that'll be wise?"

Iruka hesitated before answering, "I can ask Sasuke. I don't want him to feel left out."

"I can talk with him about it," said Naruto. "That way he'll have to say yes."

Having finished his ramen, Iruka pushed his bowl forward and said, "Thanks, Ayame, that was delicious."

Naruto gave Iruka a vulpine grin. "So Iruka-sensei. When are you going to ask Ayame-chan out on a date?"

Ayame blushed crimson and Iruka gaped at his former student. Naruto grinned smugly at him. Iruka glanced back at Ayame and said, "I didn't intend for it to be like this, but I would like to go on a date with you sometime. I'll promise not have Naruto anywhere near it."

Ayame giggled and said, "That would be lovely, Iruka."

"How about tomorrow night?"

"That would be great," said Ayame.

"I'll pick you up at seven," said Iruka. Turning to Naruto, the chunin asked, "So Naruto, when are you going to ask Sakura-chan out on a date?"

"Eh?" wondered Naruto. "We're on a date right now, Iruka sensei."

"We're not on a date!" said Sakura blushing. "We're just having lunch."

"It looks like a date to me," said Teuchi.

"If it's not a date, why are you blushing, Sakura-chan?" teased Ayame.

"I'll see you guys at the academy tomorrow at ten and you tomorrow evening, Ayame."

"See you soon, Iruka," called Ayame.

Teuchi set another bowl of ramen down in front of Naruto. The blonde haired jonin mused, "That Iruka sure is a smooth operator."

* * *

**The Endgame Chapter 13 - Interlude**

'Kami, Shima's bug ramen is disgusting,'_ Naruto thought to himself as he sat at the table with Fukusaku._

**_'Then don't eat it, Naruto,'_**_ said Kurama in his mind._

'I don't want to offend her after she went to so much trouble to make it,'_ replied Naruto._

_The Kyuubi didn't dignify that with a response._

_Naruto sat back at the table and beamed at the little purple haired toad. "Thanks, Shima! Your special bug ramen was really great. Thanks for going to the trouble of making it!"_

_Shima put a hand over her chest and waved a webbed hand at the boy. "I'm glad you liked it Naruto-chan. Now that you've signed all those other summoning scrolls, I'm glad that you still come to visit us!"_

_After the bijuu returned to their lands of their species, they all brought the blonde boy in front of them and asked Naruto to sign their summoning scrolls. Naruto could now summon toads, raccoons, cats, turtles, monkeys, horses, slugs, beetles and octopi. It was pretty awesome._

_Fukusaku put his spoon down and asked the boy, "So have you been to visit any of the bijuu yet in their new homes?"_

_Naruto tapped a finger to his chin. "A couple, yeah. Even though they weren't born as summons, they're still adjusting well to their new homes. I've been to visit Chomei, Isobu, Saiken, Shukaku, Matatabi and Gyūki so far."_

_"The Land of Mangrove Forests, the Land of Shells, the Land of Heaven and the Land of Ink," said Fukusaku in amazement. "You have traveled far, Naruto-chan."_

_"Well it was just lots of reverse summoning, so didn't take too long," shrugged the blonde haired boy._

_"I've never been to the Land of Mangrove Forests," said Shima. "Have you, pa?"_

_Fukusaku shook his head. "I've been to the Land of Shells and the Land of Heaven, but not the Land of Mangrove Forests or the Land of Ink."_

_The little purple haired toad nodded. "What were they like, Naruto?"_

_Naruto threw his arms out wide. "The Mangrove Forest was all damp and hot and crawling with snakes and huge insects. I feel bad, but I'm not in a hurry to go back. The islands and volcanos of the Land of Ink were really pretty, but the water was so deep where the octopi live, that I had to be carried around everywhere. Not too much fun."_

_"I've heard that as well, that the Land of Ink is more water than land," said Fukusaku._

_"The Land of Shells is really pretty. The turtles and slugs get along really well together there. I was neat seeing both of them there."_

_"Yes," said Shima. "Not all Lands are like the Land of Toads with only one type of animal living in it. Many live together in the same Land."_

_Fukusaku nodded. "That is because the toads and the monkeys are the two great animal clans. We have our own lands and customs. The other animal clans live together in the other Lands."_

_"The Land of Heaven is very beautiful," said Shima. "Had you been there before, Naruto-chan? It reminds me a little of the Land of Fire from your continent."_

_"I'd been to the Cat Fortress in the Land of Heaven once before, so it was fun to be back. Matatabi has me for tea and catnip whenever I visit and invites along Shukaku too because he lives so close by with the raccoon dog clan. She keeps in close touch with the other bijuu, so she always has funny updates. They were a little worried about Chomei because they hadn't heard from him, but I said not to worry about it."_

_"How are the bijuu doing? It must be a strange feeling being free after being sealed into humans for so many generations," said Shima._

_"Matatabi really enjoys being there. She was so grateful that we didn't give her back to Kumo to make another jinchuriki. I warned her that it wasn't official yet until the Five Kage Summit has reconvened, but she says she has faith in me. She misses Yugito like crazy, but she likes being free."_

_Fukusaku nodded at Naruto and said, "Do you think it'll stay that way? What did the kage's say about your proposal?"_

_Naruto scratched his head and smiled uneasily. "Eh, Kiri, Kumo, and Iwa were pretty unhappy about it."_

_Shima sat down at the table with them. "That's not surprising. It was going to be a tough battle to win. What do you think you're going to do, Naruto?"_

_"I don't know," said the blonde boy._

* * *

**The Endgame Chapter 9 - Uzumaki Naruto**

"Oi, teme, are you ready to go?"

His cousin Karin was sitting on the couch in Sasuke's living room. She was laying down reading a book, her feet in Suigetu's face. The Hozuki boy was moving them out of the way every so often. He called upstairs, "Eh, Sasuke. Naruto's here. Let's get going."

Naruto turned to the Mist shinobi curiously as Karin sat up. "You guys are coming too?"

Suigetsu raised an eyebrow. "We invited ourselves along."

"We're just going to sit in the back and watch," said Karin wandering towards the kitchen. "I'll get the popcorn, Suigetsu."

"Bring a couple bottles of water too."

Karin turned around in the doorway and pointed a finger at him. "You drink way too much water, it can't be healthy. All your cells are going to hyponatremia or something!"

"Hey, it's my special ability, I can't help it. I go through water faster than normal people do."

"A likely story," Karin mused, heading into the kitchen to fill up a storage scroll with some goodies for them to enjoy while watching the fireworks. "This is going to be so awesome."

"Oi, Karin," called Naruto. "Can you put some ramen in there too?"

Suigetsu scratched his head. "Not sure how well ramen travels in storage scrolls."

Naruto winked at him. "Travels just fine, trust me."

Sasuke stood on the bottom stair, looking completely miserable in his Konoha uniform, forest green flak jacket and all. Naruto thought it looked kickass. He wasn't sure why his bastard of a best friend looked so morose. "I can't believe you talked me into this."

"What are friends for?" asked Suigetsu, standing up from the couch. "But to kick you when you're down."

"Can we just get this over with?" asked Sasuke.

Karin walked back into the room, putting a scroll in the pocket of her shorts. "Ready to go?"

Sasuke looked at her curiously. "Where are you going?"

"Oh, we're coming too," said Suigetsu.

"Absolutely not," Sasuke scoffed. "Naruto, you said Iruka only wanted me to come, he didn't mention Suigetsu or Karin."

Naruto grinned mischievously. "Iruka wants them too. Didn't I tell you?"

"This is absolutely ridiculous. And such a waste of my time," said Sasuke as they shunshin-ed over. "I have better things to do that stand and be gawked at by a troop of sniveling idiots. I get that enough already."

They appeared in Iruka's office. Sakura, Shikamaru, and Kiba were already there. Iruka blinked at seeing Karin and Suigetsu there. Naruto nodded to them and said, "They wanted to come too."

"The more the merrier," said Iruka. "Choji and Kimiko's classes are together in the auditorium. We'll be presenting to them today."

"How old are those classes?" wondered Kiba.

"Five, six, and seven. They're the pre-academy classes for kids who show promise but are too young to enroll. The cut off is eight for the regular academy classes," explained Iruka.

"So this is the class with all the little geniuses," noted Naruto.

"You could say that." The academy teacher nodded.

"Wonderful," said Kiba sharing an amused glance with Naruto. Akamaru got to his feet and huffed. "I'm sure that they know not to pet you unless you say so," said Kiba. "There's a couple Inuzuka kids the class anyway, it should be fine."

The seven ninjas and the one ninja dog went to stand on the stage in front of the two classes. Their teachers were standing among them, trying to keep the peace. The female teacher had situated herself between a particularly rowdy pair of boys. There was a trio of little girls hanging off Choji. They thought of him as a human teddy bear.

"This is Inuzuka Kiba and Akamaru, Nara Shikamaru, Haruno Sakura, Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke, Hozuki Suigetsu, and Uzumaki Karin. Say hello everyone," said Iruka introducing the shinobi and kunoichi to the classes.

There was a flurry of cheering and awkward questions.

"Can I pet Akamaru?" was the first question, of course.

Kiba helped the little girl onto the stage who wanted to pet the huge ninja hound. She held up a hand unsure of what to do. The massive beast was even taller than her.

As she was petting Akamauru, there was a flurry of conversation from the little girls hanging off Choji in the front of the group.

"I didn't know Naruto-sempai was married," said a little girl with strawberry blonde hair.

"He's not married stupid, because I'm going to marry him," said the dark-haired girl next to her.

"But that red headed lady's name is Uzumaki too," said the little brunette.

"She's probably his sister or something," said the dark haired girl.

Naruto scratched his head and laughed, saying, "Karin and I are cousins. We just meet a couple months ago."

A little boy held up his hand. "If you're cousins, why did you just meet?"

Karin crossed her arms over her chest and said, "I used to live in a different village. But now I live in Konoha."

The three little girls at the front were tugging on Choji's sleeve again. "Where's Ino-sensei? I thought she was coming too," asked the strawberry blonde haired one.

"Yeah, why isn't Ino-sensei here?" demanded the dark-haired one.

"Is she coming later?" asked the brunette.

"Do you know them, Choji-sensei?" asked a little Hyuga girl, pulling on her teacher's hand.

"Iruka only invited jonin today to talk with us. Ino-sensei is still a chunin," answered Choji.

A little boy with wispy white hair standing next to Choji pouted. "Meh, Ino-sensei's better and prettier than them."

"Naruto-sempai! Can you show us a cool jutsu?" called a boy in the back row. "My dad said that you have a jutsu that looks like a shuriken but's not a shuriken."

"Yeah, that's my Rasenshuriken."

"Can you go into Kyuubi mode, Naruto?" asked the boy next to the first excitedly. "My brother says it's the coolest thing ever."

Deep in Naruto's consciousness, he could hear a voice growling, **"Naruto, you know I don't like being used as a parlor trick. It's bad enough that I'm trapped in here."**

The kids were hollering at him to see or pet the Kyuubi and Naruto felt a chill of revulsion. _"I won't do that to you, Kurama. I want you free of your prison as much as you do."_

Kurama rumbled back, "**Don't make a promise, Naruto, that's impossible to keep."**

Iruka looked uneasy. "Naruto, I don't think that you should. You might destroy the building. That's too dangerous."

The two boys in the back looked furious. One tugged on his teacher's arm and said, "Kimiko-sensei, why won't Iruka-sensei let us see Naruto-sempai's jutsu? It's not fair. You never show us anything cool!"

The kunoichi with dark hair crouched down in front of the boy. "Naruto's jutsu is an S-Ranked technique. Do you know what that means?"

The second boy spoke up. "That it's totally awesome."

Kimiko shook her head. "It means that it's totally dangerous. It's a kage level technique. Jutsu that powerful can be extremely dangerous to do indoors."

The first boy nodded. "Okay. So Naruto-sempai will do it for us outside."

Kimiko stood up, saying, "If it's not too dangerous."

Naruto cleared his throat and finally spoke with the children, "I'm sorry, but I'm not going to use the Kyuubi mode for you guys. It would be disrespectful towards Kurama. He fought just as hard as the Konoha ninja during the war. It's not right to jeer and gape at him like a pet in a zoo."


	6. Chapter 6

**The Endgame Deleted Scene – Interlude**

_Naruto caught her leaving the kage's tent, wiping her eyes. She out pulled the black hair tie holding back her beautiful pink hair. Her hair fell to her shoulders and she fluffed it slightly, trying to remove the crease from her ponytail._

_"Sakura," he called, catching up to her._

_She startled and blinked rapidly, rubbing her nose. "H-Hi, Naruto," she said hoarsely. She steadfastly avoided his gaze, rubbing a hand over her nose and sniffling._

_Putting a hand around her shoulders, Naruto pulled her close to him. He very much enjoyed the fact he was taller and broader than her now. Her head came about to his shoulder._

_"Hey, let's go for a walk," he said brightly._

_She closed her eyes, resting her head against his shoulder and nodded her head. She was very quiet as they walked from the edge of the camp and out into the surrounding forest. She sniffled quietly next to him, trying to calm herself down. _

_"So, Granny Tsunade's dead isn't she?" Naruto asked finally when they were out of range of the tents._

_She finally turned her gaze to him. He could see now that her eyes were red from crying. Her bottom lip trembled and she threw herself into his arms. _

* * *

**The Endgame Chapter 10 - Haruno Sakura**

Naruto wanted to do ramen for lunch for the hundredth time, so Sakura dragged him off for sushi instead. She couldn't have assassins finding his schedule too predictable after all. They ordered the shrimp tempura, salmon rolls, spicy tuna rolls, and rainbow maki. Breaking apart their chopsticks, they dug into their lunch with gusto.

"I'm thinking about going back to work at the hospital," said Sakura without preamble.

Naruto paused with a piece of rainbow maki sushi halfway to his mouth. Putting it back on his plate, he beamed at her. "That's a great idea, Sakura-chan! You're wasted in assigning missions at the Hokage Building. Make Kakashi do some of his own work for once!"

Sakura giggled at him. With a smile, she asked, "So you think it's a good idea then?"

Naruto waved the rainbow maki at her; it almost flew off his chopsticks to hit her in the face. "Of course it's a good idea. You're completely brilliant as a medical ninja. The hospital will be glad to have you. Kakashi'll be able to manage well enough on his own. I'm sure Iruka-sensei or someone can help out when things get too busy."

"We're so understaffed in every department," said Sakura. "I thought war was bad, but I think it's the aftermath that's worse."

Naruto nodded in agreement.

"How are things at ANBU?" wondered Sakura. She was surprised when Naruto didn't answer immediately, only looking down at his sushi unhappily. "Is everything alright, Naruto?"

He sat back and put down his chopsticks. Glancing around the shop, he said, "Everything's fine, I'm just—"

Sakura raised her eyebrows. "Just what?"

Naruto shrugged. "I dunno. I thought that ANBU was the coolest thing ever and applied. Everyone that I looked up to had been in it: dad, Kakashi, Yamato, Itachi. And when Sasuke got back to Konoha, I thought it would be the best place for him. He's happier than I've ever seen him as an ANBU operative. I wanted to be able to share that with him."

Sakura nodded. Lifting one of the salmon rolls on her chopsticks and dipping it in the wasabi, she said, "You've been in ANBU less than two months, Naruto."

"I know."

"Maybe you'll find that you like it when you've been working at it longer," explained Sakura. "I found working as a medical ninja to be really tough in the beginning. I wanted to give up a lot, but I persevered and here I am today."

"But that's different, Sakura-chan. You wanted to be a medical ninja more than anything else and it suits you better than anything else."

Sakura glanced at her friend. "Does ANBU not suit you?"

Naruto picked up a salmon roll and dipped it in the soy sauce, remarking, "I don't like wearing that mask, Sakura."

"Is it because it's a fox? Does Kurama find it insulting?"

Naruto shook his head. "No, it's not that at all. The fox mask is super cool. It's the idea of the mask that I don't like. And my captain's a cool lady, but she doesn't want me using any of my cool signature jutsu. Nothing too flashy to reveal my identity, she says."

Sakura laughed. "You don't follow the shinobi rules at all, do you, Naruto."

Naruto winked as he popped a spicy tuna roll in his mouth. "I have my own shinobi rules, Sakura-chan."

Sakura battled his chopsticks for the last spicy tuna roll and won. "So, do you think you want to go back to the regular shinobi forces?"

Naruto went for the shrimp tempura instead. "I don't know. Maybe?"

Sakura looked at her friend. "Maybe?"

Naruto put down his chopsticks and ran a hand through his spiky blonde hair. "My ninja way is to never give up. Am I betraying that if I give up on ANBU?"

Sakura wanted to reach across the table and hug him tightly, he looked so vulnerable. She smiled softly at him. "You're the strongest ninja I know, Naruto. And I believe that you'll make Hokage. But if you want to leave ANBU, I'll completely support your decision. Hiding behind a mask like a faceless shinobi isn't your style, Naruto." She poked his cheek with a chopstick and said, "How can you change the world if no one can see your pretty face?"

He puffed out his cheeks at her in annoyance. "Don't tease me, Sakura-chan."

"What?" she giggled. "It's true!"

* * *

**The Endgame Deleted Scene – Interlude**

_She hid her face against his chest. "I-I couldn't do anything to s-save her. I failed. I should have been stronger, I should have tried harder."_

_He pulled her back and rubbed his hands up and down her arms comfortingly. He smiled sadly at her. "Sakura, she was cut in two. She couldn't heal herself, Katsuyu couldn't save her, and even Orochimaru was powerless. You did your best. It's not your fault, Sakura."_

_"She—she said she was proud of me," Sakura said, looking up at him._

_He pulled her against him and rubbed her back. "Sakura, you were so wonderful. You helped us to defeat Madara and Obito and you saved so many people's lives. Everyone's so proud of you."_

_She stepped closer and wrapped her arms around his waist, resting her head against his chest. She wrapped his arms around her shoulders. Being wrapped in his arms like this helped that little piece of her heart that had broken when she held Tsunade's hand as it went limp in her grasp. _

_"How did you…what did you do when you lost, Jiraiya?" wondered Sakura. "How did you—"_

_Naruto rested his chin against the top of her head, pulling her in closer to him. Rubbing his large hands up and down her back, he said softly, "You never really get over it. But I had you and Shikamaru and Iruka-sensei to help. You just have to remember the good times and take heart knowing that your teacher died for a reason for a purpose. It's our job now to carry out their legacy, to ensure that everything they worked for, everything they died for means something."_

_She glanced up at him with a watery smile. "How is it that you always know what to say to make me feel better?"_

_He wiped away a hot tear dripping down her cheek. "Sheer dumb luck."_

_She let out a choked laugh at that. Glancing at his chest, she realized, "I'm so sorry, I'm getting tears and snot all over your jacket."_

_"Meh," he shrugged. "It's all shredded anyway. I'll have to throw it away regardless."_


	7. Chapter 7

**The Endgame Chapter 11 - Uzumaki Naruto**

"Oi, teme, you picking up your new teammate too?" asked Naruto bouncing on the balls of his feet outside one of the ANBU conference rooms. Sasuke was already standing outside the room with his arms crossed over his chest and his eyes closed.

"Obviously," said Sasuke.

"Me too!" said Naruto excitedly. "Can you believe everyone on Team Kurenai is joining ANBU? Who would have thought?"

"Team Kurenai was formed as a tracking team," said Sasuke, "and they're all the heirs to notable shinobi clans. They have the strength and skills for ANBU. Ninjas skilled in tracking can be difficult to find."

Hyuga Tokuma, who was leaning against the other wall said, "Well spoken, Uchiha. Commander Yamato told me that my team will be taking on more of a scouting and tracking role now that the Aburame is going to be added to it."

Naruto smiled thinking about his new teammate. His squad didn't have anyone who was as strong a tracker as Inuzuka Kiba. Even if he decided to turn in his mask and leave ANBU like he had spoken about with Sakura, his team would still be in good shape. Would he be a better Hokage candidate as an ANBU ninja or as a shinobi in the regular forces? Well, he was going to make Hokage one way or the other!

**"You've still got a ways to go, young one," **said Kurama.

_"Hey, I've gotten loads better and people are finally starting to acknowledge me!"_ Naruto countered.

**"I can't deny that,"** agreed the fox.

_"But I won't accept the position until after I've fulfilled my promise to you, Kurama. The injustice the bijuu and jinchuriki suffered must end with my generation. I won't rest until you're free. I'll find a way if it's the last thing I do!"_

**"That's my fear,"** muttered the fox.

"Hn," said Sasuke. "How will we know when they're ready inside?"

Tokuma activated his bloodline. "Yamato's going to give me a signal."

It seemed like it was only yesterday when he and Sasuke had their meeting, with Yamato-taicho sitting at the table trying to scare them. Naruto wasn't sure why he had rambled about that mind wipe thing. His scary face would have done it well enough. Good times. "Do you think any of them are going to back out when they hear about the mind wipe?"

"Dunno," said Sasuke.

"They've come this far," said Tokuma. "I don't think so. Hinata-hime is determined. She's not going to give up that easily."

It was hard to imagine little Hinata-chan so resolute, but she could be strong when she wanted to. Not as brave or strong as his Sakura-chan, but she would do well on Sasuke-teme's team. "Kiba and Shino won't either," agreed Naruto. "Do you think anyone ever does? Is it just a bluff to ensure our loyalty?"

"No, it happens sometimes. We haven't needed to do one in a while, but I watched Yamanaka Inoichi perform one on an ANBU who was forced to leave after his probationary period. He wasn't on my team, but we went on a couple missions together and became close friends."

"Really?" gasped Naruto. "What was it like?"

Tokuma sighed. "I had always known that Yamanaka Inochi was a strong ninja, but I hadn't realized how terrifyingly powerful he was. All of my friend's memories of ANBU were completely removed or modified."

Naruto's eyes widened. He had strived all his life to be accepted by others and to establish his bonds of friendship; it was hard to imagine them being erased just like that. He would have to be sure not piss of Yamanaka Ino, if she could wipe his memories when pissed off. "Are you still friends?" he wondered.

Tokuma looked at the door. "I had to start from scratch. We had met through ANBU, so his every memory of me was taken from him. It was like we were strangers."

"That's horrible," said Naruto. "I'm glad I passed my probation."

"Me too," said Tokuma.

A thought crossed his mind. He didn't plan to spend his whole life as an ANBU. What happened when he wanted to leave? "Er," said Naruto. "What happens after we leave from ANBU? Do we get our minds wiped?"

"You never leave from ANBU," said Tokuma. "You are only decommissioned. In that way you are allowed to retain your memories, but you can be recalled for a mission if necessary. If you want to cut all ties, you have to give up your memories."

"Well I plan to be Hokage, so I'll be in charge of ANBU one day and they won't be allowed to wipe my mind," said Naruto with satisfaction.

"Hn," Sasuke muttered. "What's taking so long?"

Tokuma glanced back at the door, his eyes active. "Yamato's giving the signal, let's go."

* * *

**The Endgame Chapter 18 - Interlude**

_"Any questions?" asked the ANBU Commander._

_There was silence in the room until a boy in a bright orange jumpsuit threw his hand up in the air. "I have a question, Captain Yamato!"_

_"Naturally," deadpanned Yamato, turning to the boy._

_Naruto's ANBU captain let out a little giggle from her seat next to the blonde boy. Her plaited red gold fell like a river of molten gold down her shoulder. Her twinkling eyes were … snap out of it, Yamato!_

_Yamato had gathered a group of ten together to debrief Naruto and Sasuke about the dangers ROOT posed to them. Now that they'd been added to ANBU, they wanted to explain how this was going to affect the dynamics of and the missions assigned to their teams._

_The Hokage, ANBU Commander, Head of T&I, and two captains of the ANBU squads sat around the table with their assistants at their side. Uzumaki Karin was a new addition to the group. She had joined Ibiki in T&I around the same time that Naruto and Sasuke joined ANBU. Yamato had appointed Sai as his second in command, so the former member of ROOT was also present at the table. Nara Shikamaru was there as Kakashi's advisor._

_Naruto closed his eyes and put his arms over his head. Sasuke rolled his eyes. Naruto spoke after a moment, "What I don't understand is how we haven't caught these ROOT bastards yet. If they're anything like Sai was, they should be totally obvious because of their lack of social skills." Naruto turned to his friend and amended, "No offense."_

_Sai nodded wisely and said, "I assume that you didn't want that to be construed as an insult. Thank you for letting me know. I have great difficulty understanding sarcasm and double talk."_

_Naruto waved his hand at the dark haired former ROOT member. "See what I mean. Sai's like an emotionless robot – no offense – surely someone would have noticed if there's an army of emotionless robots running around!"_

_Karin chuckled. Ibiki elbowed her in the side and nodded at the table. "Would you like to explain, Red?"_

_Karin slid her glasses up her nose and said, "You raise a good point, Naruto. ROOT's main force has been trained to be an army of drones. They are taught to suppress their every emotion so that their loyalty to ROOT is absolute. However, what we are dealing with are the ROOT infiltration operatives. They have suppressed their emotions as well, but they have been taught to seem normal to those around them."_

_"They're classic psychopaths: exhibiting narcissism, lack of empathy, and anti-social behavior," Ibiki explained. "They're charming but cunning and manipulative. They have no remorse or guilt for the evil they might cause. They will be pathological liars, needing to cover their tracks and prevent discovery."_

_"Sounds like Sasuke-teme," Naruto laughed._

_Sasuke rolled his eyes._

_"I hardly think that Sasuke is a member of ROOT, Naruto," said Sasuke's ANBU captain, Kenta. _

_"Though he is a classic psychopath," countered Naruto with a grin._

_Yamato glared at Naruto. "I hardly think that's appropriate, Naruto. Can we get back to our discussion?"_

_Naruto muttered something under his breath about people not appreciating his jokes. Shikamaru spoke up from his chair. "As two of our strongest ninjas with impressive bloodlines, we believe that both of you may be targets for ROOT."_

_Yamato nodded. "We have our best people trying to discover the ROOT operatives' identities and plans, but we cannot be too careful. I'm going to ask both of you to careful not to make your identities known while you're in your ANBU uniforms. This will hopefully be able to offer you another layer of protection against them."_

_Naruto scratched his head and held up his ANBU mask. "Er, Yamato, don't you think my fox mask will sort of defeat the purpose there?"_

_Yamato slapped a hand to his forehead. Kami, why did they think having Naruto join ANBU was a good idea? _

* * *

**The Endgame Chapter 13 - Nara Shikamaru**

He considered Kakashi's bishop in his hand. The Hokage's trap hadn't gone as planned. Shikamaru had caught on and thwarted it five moves before Kakashi had sprung the trap.

The Hokage pouted. "I thought for sure I'd at least be able to check you."

Shikamaru smirked before moving his queen's bishop. "Your trap was too obvious, Kakashi-sensei."

Kakashi revealed his Sharingan and considered the board, trying to come up with a strategy with his remaining pieces. Shikamaru smiled, saying, "You're going to be checkmated in three moves. The Sharingan's not going to help."

"Damn," muttered the Hokage, using his rook to capture Shikamaru's knight.

"Check," said Shikamaru, moving his queen's bishop to check Kakashi's king. Kakashi stared down at the board, his crimson eye spinning. Shikamaru leaned back in his chair and continued their earlier conversation, "Yes, we've been infiltrated in all levels of all departments most likely. But that doesn't concern me as much as their intentions. Who are these men: POSSUM, SPIDER, and DRAGON? Did Shimura Danzo leave behind instructions in case of his death? Are they operating independently?"

Kakashi frowned at the board. "I'd like to know that myself."

Shikamaru moved his king's bishop and continued, "We don't know how many Root operatives are still out there. From what Sai's told us, Danzo had an army. What happened to them? They didn't participate in Pein's invasion, but did they participate in the Fourth Shinobi War? What sort of casualties did Root sustain? Were their forces as depleted as the regular Konoha shinobi forces?"

Kakashi leaned back in his chair after moving his pawn in some direction or other. He'd lose during Shikamaru's next move anyway. "If past behavior is any indication, I'd bet that Danzo's forces didn't participate in the Shinobi War."

Shikamaru nodded. "I agree. So where are they? Where is this army? It's not in Konoha, we would have noticed. Has root allied with a minor village? Are their forces hiding there? What is going on in the Land of Hot Water?"

Kakashi raised an eyebrow. "You think the Root army is in Yugakure?"

Shikamaru moved his king's bishop to checkmate Kakashi's king. "There's a distinct possibility. Something strange is going on in that part of the world."

"You've already sent a team of people we can trust to look into what's going on in Hot Water Country," said Kakashi.

Shikamaru nodded. "Yes. So if Root is more or less at full strength while our forces are down almost 60%, why are they still using guerilla tactics? Are they afraid of Naruto? Without Naruto, they could probably crush us if their numbers are what I'd anticipate."

Kakashi looked down at the board. "That's why I pressured Naruto to join ANBU. We can keep a closer eye on his teammates in that way. He can't be requested for missions like a regular shinobi can. And I have three other ninjas on his team that I trust completely."

"Root is biding its time. They've infiltrated the other departments because they want something from us that they won't get if they wipe us off the map. But what is it?"

Both players glanced up as Ibiki stormed into the Hokage's office, Yamato close on his heels. The fearsome head of the Torture and Interrogation department halted in front of the desk. Shikamaru turned in his chair with his eyebrows raised. Kakashi glanced up at them in surprise. "Yo, Ibiki, Butsuma!"

"But what?" wondered Shikamaru.

Yamato sent a quick wind jutsu at the still open door and it slammed shut with a loud bang. "I knew I shouldn't have told you my real name."

Ibiki raised an eyebrow as he worked on the genjutsu to keep their conversation private. "That's your real name? Butsuma?"

"That's terrible," commiserated Shikamaru. "I can why you go by Yamato instead."

A mist flowed around the room as the corner of the room and windows were blacked out. There was a residual high pitched whining sound at the edges of the genjutsu to muffle the sound of their conversation even further.

"We've got something good, Kakashi," said Yamato, completing ignoring the peanut gallery.

The Hokage sat back in his chair. "That's good because Shikamaru's beating me senseless in chess. What've you got?"

"Done assigning that one S-Rank mission then, Kakashi?" laughed Ibiki.

"Still working on it," said Kakashi. "This one's a doozy, really difficult to assign. What have you two got for me?

"We've got a Root operative from very high in the organization. His code name is HYENA. He's had contact with DRAGON."

"With DRAGON himself and not just his messenger RAT?"

Ibiki nodded. "He's the first we've captured that's actually interacted with one of the big three."

"How did you catch him?" wondered Shikamaru.

"He's a member of ANBU, on Sai's team," explained Yamato. "He went off script on a mission in the Land of Hot Water. He killed both of his ANBU teammates and was going to kill Sai, but Sai was able to defeat him. Sai reported the situation to me and I did an emergency reverse summoning on the Root operative. Sai's in the Land of Hot Water awaiting further orders. Ibiki has our Root friend in custody down in T&I."

"The Land of Hot Water, eh," muttered Shikamaru to himself.

"What sort of information have you gotten from him?" wondered Kakashi. "What does he know about DRAGON?"

"Not much," grumbled Ibiki. "DRAGON's a sneaky bastard, hiding his tracks. HYENA only saw him wearing a mask and cloaked. There wasn't an inch of skin showing. No revealing attributes that can help us identify the prick."

Shikamaru crossed his arms over his chest, taking it all in. "So we're the only ones who know that HYENA's been captured. Root probably thinks the man's still on that mission in Hot Water Country."

"Yes," said Yamato. "No one else knows besides the four of us and a handful of people in T&I."

Shikamaru nodded seriously. "What if we were to release HYENA and trail him? He could lead us back to DRAGON."

Yamato shook his head. "It wouldn't work, Shikamaru. How can we trust that HYENA won't reveal to DRAGON that he's spent time in T&I? He'll probably just slit his own throat when he gets out. We don't have anyone good enough at doing a mind wipe to ensure that your plan will be a success."

"I think it's time we paid your pretty blonde friend a visit, Shikamaru," said Ibiki. "She's been playing hard to get for long enough."


	8. Chapter 8

**The Endgame Deleted Scene – Interlude**

_Captain Chika wore her HUMMINGBIRD mask as they practiced to their kenjutsu together at one of the practice fields. Naruto wore his FOX mask. His tanto was new. He'd found one in the ANBU armory that would allow him to channel his wind style chakra into the blade better._

_"FOX, you can't use your signature techniques while we're on a mission. ANBU functions as the faceless protectors of Konoha. Maintaining our anonymity is essential."_

_He rubbed his head. He hated when she used big words like anonymity on him. But he hated not being able to use his signature techniques even more._

_"But why can't I use my signature techniques? I made sure that we defeated those ninjas when I used my wind style rasenshuriken. We were way outnumbered."_

_Chika held out her katana and said, "Because you're the only ninja on earth who can perform that technique. They knew instantly who you were. That's not supposed to happen."_

_"I still think it's a lame rule," Naruto muttered petulantly._

_"I meant to ask you, FOX, if you've spoken to HAWK lately. The Commander's worried about him. His captain died during a mission last night. The Commander said he's pretty upset about it."_

_Naruto shook his head. "No, I haven't seen him. I'll talk to him. It's the worst having someone you admire die. It was really hard when I lost uh - he doesn't have a code name. TOAD? My sensei? - I'm sure HAWK's feeling just as bad – even though he'd probably die than admit he has feelings." _

* * *

**The Endgame Chapter 13 - Haruno Sakura**

"Our prosthetic division has gotten really large. It along with physical therapy takes up most of the first and second floors in the second wing," explained Akio as they walked down the hall in the newly rebuilt Konoha hospital towards a pair of large double doors.

After Pein's attack, the Konoha hospital had been badly damaged. Tsunade had made repairs a priority for the hospital, but there hadn't been time to rebuild until after the war. A second wing had been added to the hospital after the shinobi returned home.

Sakura nodded her pink head as they walked into the large gymnasium. There were about twenty shinobi completing their physical therapy that afternoon. "With all the wounds suffered during the war, I'm not surprised that our prosthetic division has grown so large," said the pink haired medic. "Though it's a shame we couldn't save more of their limbs."

The blonde haired doctor nodded in agreement. "Some of the wounds were so severe that the limbs had to be removed."

Sakura nodded. Watching a man attempting to grip something with his prosthetic arm, she had a vision of an old woman from long ago who had made considerable use out of her impediment. "Have we worked with these ninja to help develop their chakra string techniques? In Suna, ninja with prosthetics have taken advantage of that handicap to enhance their puppet master jutsu."

Akio raised her eyebrows. "That's a wonderful idea. I'll speak with the department head about that. I'm sure the ninjas who lost limbs during the war will be grateful for the hope that'll give them. Many of them are disheartened that they'll never be as strong as they once were."

Sakura smiled and followed the curly blonde haired woman out the door. Akio continued, "We're going to have you start your rotation in the internal medicine department on the fourth floor. We can stop upstairs in the OB/GYN department on our way up."

As they made their way upstairs and passed the waiting room, a dark haired woman stood up and said, "Akio-san, the nurse at the front desk said that you wouldn't be available until four. Are you in early?"

Akio gestured to Sakura and said, "Good afternoon, Kimiko. I'm showing our newest medical ninja around the hospital. Would you mind waiting just a little longer? I should be down in a about an hour or so."

The academy teacher looked disappointed. "I'll have to come back tomorrow then. I can't wait another hour."

"I'm sorry, Kimiko," said the curly blonde haired doctor. "We're very short staffed right now."

Sakura turned to the doctor and said, "I don't mind you having a quick check-up with Kimiko. I can sit in the room and observe if that's alright. I'd like to learn more about the department."

"It'll be really quick," said Kimiko, "I only need to get that prescription refilled."

Akio raised her eyebrows in understanding. "Oh, I'm sorry that I forgot. Come with me girls, I think exam room four should be open."

Sakura and Kimiko followed behind Akio on the way down the hallway to the examination room. The blonde haired woman held the door open and the three filed inside. The academy teacher jumped up onto the exam table that had been dressed with paper and Sakura went to sit in the chair by the side.

"No strange reactions to the potion then?" asked Akio.

Kimiko shook her head. "No it's working fine. No complaints here. I'm just running a little low. I wanted to refill my prescription. I meant to come last week but I got sent away on a mission last minute and forgot."

Akio picked up her prescription pad and jotted down a note. Tearing off the paper, she handed it to the academy teacher. "There you go. That should be good for another three months. And you know how the cycling works?"

"Yes," said Kimiko, accepting the prescription.

Akio grinned at the younger woman. "So how did that date you were telling me about go last week?"

Kimiko sighed unhappily, "We keep having to reschedule. For some reason, Hokage-sama keeps calling Yamato or I away on missions."

Sakura blinked in surprise. "I thought I recognized you. You're Kimiko from the academy. I think my friend Yamanaka Ino subbed for your class last week."

The pretty dark haired girl beamed. "That's right! Ino-chan is a darling. It was so nice of her to take over my class and Choji's class while we were on that mission. I hope it wasn't too taxing for her."

"I think it solidified in her mind that she doesn't want to be a teacher," Sakura laughed.

Kimiko's eyes twinkled. She hopped off the examination table and said, "Thanks again, Akio. Hopefully I'll be able to take full advantage of the birth control potion on my date with Yamato next week."

Akio laughed and said, "Good for you."

The academy teacher grinned and waved at the two medical ninjas before slipping out of the room. Akio went to sit down next to Sakura. "Kimiko's such a nice girl. I hope her date works out."

Sakura grinned. "Me too. I hope Kakashi'll quit playing that trick on Yamato and let the poor man go on his date."

Akio grinned. "Now that we're here, I suppose I can ask you if you'd like me to fill out any birth control prescriptions for you. Have you already discussed that with your attending physician?"

Sakura blushed crimson. "Oh, I'm not sexually active."

Akio looked surprised. "A pretty girl like you? And at your age? I thought you and Uzumaki Naruto were dating."

Sakura shook her head. "No, we're just friends."

Akio continued to look surprised. "Really? I can tell that he likes you a lot. If you're not sure, you might want to be careful. There are a lot of other kunoichi who are just waiting to jump in and steal him away from you. He's quite a prize, you know."

"He's a person, not a prize," mumbled Sakura.

Akio smirked. "And with his stamina, imagine what he'd be like in the bedroom."

Sakura blushed an even brighter crimson. "I-I-"

Akio scribbled down the same prescription and tore of the page, handing it to Sakura. "Well if you change your mind, here's the birth control prescription, just in case. The worst thing a kunoichi can do is have an unplanned pregnancy. Trust me. I see a lot of kunoichi come in with unplanned pregnancies who then have to give up being ninjas. I don't want that to happen to you, Sakura."

* * *

**The Endgame Chapter 24 - Interlude**

_Naruto plopped down in the chair next to Sasuke in the ANBU lounge. "Oi, teme, you look like someone kicked your puppy. What's up?"_

_Sasuke looked down at his hands. "Shut up, dobe, and mind your own business."_

_"Seriously, though," continued Naruto. "Is something wrong?"_

_"My ANBU captain was killed in our last mission."_

_"What!" gasped Naruto. "Kenta-sempai? But he was the coolest. How could he die in a mission?"_

_"The man was human, just like everyone else. It sounded like they had bad intel and found themselves in hot water."_

_"Oh, they were in the Land of Hot Water, were they? Kakashi-sensei's been telling me about some sort of coup 'd'état that's going over there right now."_

_"It's an expression, dobe - finding yourself in hot water." _

_"Oh, so it wasn't in the Land of Hot Water."_

_Sasuke put a hand to his head. "It's an expression, but they were in the Land of Hot Water when it happened."_

_"Now I'm confused. I thought you just said—"_

_"Are you trying to annoy me intentionally?" snapped Sasuke._

_Naruto grinned. "Trying to cheer you up. Is it not working?"_

_"No, it's not. Can you just go fuck off, Naruto?" Sasuke yelled. "I'm not in the mood to deal with you right now."_

_The three other ANBU ninja in the lounge grabbed their things and ran out of the room. It was usually best to avoid Sasuke when he was in one of those moods._

_"You sure know how to clear a room, teme," said Naruto._

_Sasuke's eyes flashed red with the Sharingan. "Still here, dobe?"_

_Watching the other ANBU clear the room, Naruto turned to Sasuke with a satisfied smile that was very suspicious. Naruto continued, "Now that Kenta's dead, what's going to happen with your evaluation after your probationary period? You're just about done, right?"_

_Sasuke put his head in his hands. "I don't know what I'm going to do. Shinju is such a dick. He'll probably give me a bad recommendation just to spite me and Takeshi is spineless, so he'll just go along with what Shinju says."_

_Naruto looked uneasy. "You know if you don't pass, they can wipe your memories."_

_"Don't you think I know that?" Sasuke spat._

_Naruto looked around the room as if to assure himself that everyone had in fact left and no one was hiding under a chair. Satisfied, he mused quietly. "You and Kenta were pretty close right?"_

_Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Yes. He was one of the only ninjas that I actually respected and enjoyed working with around here. Trying to rub it in, Naruto-baka?"_

_Naruto shrugged. "You've probably helped him write missions reports? Or at least read his mission reports?"_

_Sasuke sighed in annoyance. Would Naruto never leave? Finally, Sasuke said, "So?"_

_"Maybe with your Sharingan activated?"_

_"I guess," said Sasuke. "Why?"_

_Naruto grinned. "Because, teme, that means you can write his recommendation for him. You've probably helped him write mission reports before right? It's like the same thing."_

_Sasuke snorted. "It is not the same thing at all."_

_Naruto shrugged. "But you should probably do it anyway."_

_"I'll think about it."_

_Naruto looked around the room. "Try to get it done tonight and sneak it into Kenta's desk or apartment. They're going to start packing up his possessions tomorrow. It'll be good if they find it then and not afterwards. It would be suspicious otherwise."_

_Sasuke looked at Naruto curiously. "Have you done this before?"_

_Naruto waved a hand at him. "I was an orphan. I had to forge all kinds of things to make sure I got to do things I wanted to. I probably won't be as good at it as you though. And you don't even have to try. You have that stupid Sharingan to make it easy."_

_For the first time that day, Sasuke smiled._


	9. Chapter 9

**The Endgame Chapter 15 – Haruno Sakura**

The little pink potion was in her pocket. She had blushed like crazy when she went to the pharmacy to get it filled before she left the hospital for the day. She wasn't sure if she was ready to sleep with Naruto, but it would be good to be ready for it just in case. Besides, birth control wasn't just to help prevent pregnancy. It had other uses as well.

She watched as Ino stormed around the shop, dropping flowers in vases and slamming down pots.

"Er, Ino, the flowers are really delicate. You might want to be more careful," warned Sakura.

Ino turned to glare at her, holding a potted hyacinth. For a moment, Sakura worried that her blonde friend was going to throw it at her. "I know that!" she snapped.

"Everything alright?" wondered Sakura.

"It's just those Konoha Council members. They're so insensitive."

"Er, right?" said Sakura. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"No!" Ino yelled.

Sakura flinched, her eyes widening in surprise. Ino seemed to deflate at seeing the expression on her friend's face. The blonde girl wandered over and leaned against the counter and said, "I'm sorry, Sakura. It's been a really weird day."

"That's alright."

"So how was your first day?" asked Ino with a grin. "How do you like being back at the hospital?"

Sakura sighed happily. "It's wonderful. I should have gone back months ago. I'm starting my rotation in the internal medicine department. It's really nice seeing patients and helping people again."

"That's great, Sakura!" said Ino. "I haven't been to the hospital in a while. What's that new wing look like?"

"It's beautiful," said the pink haired medic. "The prosthetic and physical therapy department is all new and shiny. Akio took me through it on my tour of the place. Do you remember that Suna kunoichi Chiyo? She's the one that I fought with when we went to rescue the Kazekage from the Akatsuki."

Ino's eyes narrowed when she heard the words Suna kunoichi, but she eventually nodded. "That old lady you told me about? She sounded really strong. I hope I'm that badass when I'm an old crone."

"Somehow I have trouble imagining you as an old crone, Ino," Sakura laughed. "You'll probably use Tsunade-hime's jutsu when you get older to look young and beautiful forever."

Ino grinned. "Maybe."

Sakura continued, "Well she was a really talented puppet master. She had lost her right arm in battle a long time ago and outfitted it her prosthetic with all kinds of handy things to use with her puppet jutsu. I suggested to Akio that we have our physical therapy department help our ninjas with prosthetics learn to do that same thing."

Ino's eyes widened. "That's brilliant, Sakura! Thank Kami that you're back at the hospital. You were wasted at the Hokage Building."

Sakura smiled and said, "Naruto said the same thing."

Ino wiggled her eyebrows at Sakura. "Naruto, eh? How's our blonde friend doing?"

Sakura blushed. "Why does everyone tease me so much about him? We're not dating!"

"Everyone?" Ino grinned. "Who else is teasing you?"

Sakura crossed her arms over her chest. "Akio was teasing me too."

Ino's eyes widened. "Akio from the hospital was? What did she say?"

Sakura blushed a brighter red and took out the potion from her pocket. "Akio was shocked that I wasn't sleeping with Naruto and gave me a prescription for birth control. Can you believe her? Doesn't that defy the Hippocratic Oath or something?"

Ino stared at the little vial in Sakura's hands with the pink potion. "And you filled the prescription?"

Sakura looked down at her hands and mumbled, "Akio said something about unplanned pregnancies being the worst thing a kunoichi could do to herself, so I figured better safe than sorry."

Sakura missed the shadow that passed in front of Ino's eyes. When she glanced back up at her blonde friend, Ino was looking at her curiously. "If you're not ready to have sex, you shouldn't feel pressured by something that woman said to you. I can't believe the woman's audacity, handing you a birth control prescription like that!"

Sakura turned the pink potion over in her hand. "I'm sure she was just looking out for me. She works as an OB/GYN. She's probably seen a lot of unplanned pregnancies and doesn't want the same thing to happen to me."

"Yeah, I guess," said Ino. She nodded down at the pink potion in Sakura's hand. "I was on that one for a little while and didn't like it. It had some weird side effects. I've got something better. Let me go get it for you."

Sakura stared down at the pink potion in her hand, feeling very foolish. When Ino returned, she had a small piece of paper. She slapped it on the table. "It's a seal that basically does the same thing. It regulates your hormone production. It glows bright red to warn you when you're ovulating."

Sakura picked up the seal and said, "I've never seen this before. Where'd you get it?"

Ino leaned against the counter. "Shikamaru made it for me. He's going through a Fūinjutsu kick right now. I've put it on my hip."

Sakura watched as Ino showed the little black seal that she had placed on her right hip. It was black. "Shikamaru made it for you?"

Ino nodded, accepting the pink potion from Sakura. She dropped it in her pocket. "Yeah. He says that he's taken a personal interest in my menstrual cycle. He's such a busybody sometimes."

Sakura blushed crimson. "So what's it like?"

"It doesn't sting or anything. You just put the paper where you want to place the seal and apply a little chakra. Voila!"

Sakura's blush was intensifying. "Not the seal," she hissed. "S-s-sex. What's it like?"

"When you're with someone you love, it's the best thing in the world."

"Does it hurt? Your first time?" wondered Sakura.

Ino grinned. "I thought you weren't dating Naruto, Sakura."

* * *

**The Endgame Chapter 21 - Interlude**

_The Land of Heaven was a beautiful place. Naruto had never realized how close some of the summons's lands were to each other. The Land of Heaven was far across the sea from the Land of Fire – which was why they usually used summoning contracts to visit each other – but it was very close to the lands of the other summons. _

_The Land of Ink, an archipelago just offshore where the octopus summons lived, was a three day journey southwest by foot and boat from the Land of Shells. The Land of Shells was comprised of the peninsula and barrier islands where the turtles and slugs lived. The Land of Toads was bordered in the south by the Land of Shells, in the north by the Land of Steep Crags, and to the east by the land of Heaven. Land of Steep Crags was actually the huge mountain range that ran in a diagonal across the middle of the continent. The bird summons nested there. The view from the Land of Steep Crags was astounding: an ocean of water extending to the horizon to the west and an ocean of grass extending to the horizon to the east. Mount Myoboku rose high within the small part of the mountain range contained within the Land of Toads. _

_The Land of Verdant Plains extended east out from the foothills of the mountains as far as the eye could see; it was a huge green expanse where the horse summons ran free. The Land of Winter was a cold and barren land. It stretched across the north of the continent, bordering the land of Verdant Plains and a small corner of the Land of Steep Crags._

_The Land of Verdant plains and its southern neighbor, the Land of Heaven, were both landlocked. The Land of Heaven was bordered to the west by the Land of Toads and to the south by the Land of Mangrove forests and the Land of Monkeys, which both extended to the ocean. A variety of insect summons lived on the border of the Land of Heaven and the Land of Mangrove Forests. The Land of Mangrove Forests was also home to the snake summons. Sasuke had been there before, but the place gave Naruto the creeps. _

_Naruto was proud to say that he had been to all the different Lands on the continent of the summons. He had rode with Kokuo through the tall grasses of the Land of Verdant Plains. He, Sasuke, and the Uchiha's hawk summons had climbed the tallest peak of the Land of Steep Crags and gazed in wonder at the world below them. He had fallen into the brackish water in the Land of Mangrove Forests while Sasuke, Chomei, and the Uchiha's snake summons hissed and chuckled at him. He had sat on Gyuk's head in the middle of a vast ocean while they watched the migration of the whale summons. He had stood on the shore stringing together a shell necklace for Sakura, while the pink haired medical ninja lay under an umbrella with Isobu, Saiken, and Sakura's slug summons. He had thoroughly embarrassed himself while in the Land of monkeys as Son Goku tried to teach him vine swinging. Of course the monkey summons had raved that Sarutobi Konohamaru was a natural. He had frozen his butt off in the Land of Winter when Kokuo had taken him with the diplomatic party of horses to meet the snow leopards._

_The Land of Heaven was one of his favorite lands. It was amazing to think of just how many summons lived there. Naruto would always have a special place for it in his heart because it reminded him of home, of the Land of Fire, and Konoha. There were the cats in their Fortress, the raccoons and raccoon dogs in the mountains to the north and the foxes in the forests to the west. He very much wanted to visit the Foxes in the Torikku Forest, but he always felt a terrible guilty about it. How could he go visit Kurama's clansmen when the fox was trapped and sealed within him?_

**_"I'm sure they won't mind, Naruto,"_**_ said Kurama. __**"They will understand when I explain the situation to them."**_

'But they'll hate me when they realize that I'm your jailor,'_ Naruto retorted. _

**_"I'm realizing that it's almost impossible for anyone to hate you,"_**_ muttered the fox. __**"I'm a manifestation of the hate and darkness in men's souls and even I failed in the end."**_

'I love you too, Kurama,'_ Naruto laughed._

_Kurama snorted._

_Naruto sat at a table with Matatabi and Shukaku, enjoying a cup of tea. It felt a little surreal, he wasn't going to lie. "Have you been to visit Kokuo lately?" asked Matatabi, nibbling on some cat nip. "We haven't heard from him in a while."_

_"No, I haven't been to visit the Land of Verdant Plains in some time," said the jinchuriki. "Were the snow leopards giving him a hard time after my meeting with them? I hope I didn't get Kokuo in trouble."_

_"No," said Matatabi. "We would have been informed if the snow leopard clans attacked the horse clans. We just haven't received any communication from Kokuo in several weeks."_

_Shukaku shrugged. "It's probably nothing._

_"It's the same thing that happened with Chomei," Matatabi observed. "He just stopped sending letters too."_

_Shukaku sneered at the cat. "That's probably because you keep sending all those tedious things. Chomei and Kokuo have better things to do than be your pen pals."_

_Matatabi hissed at the raccoon dog, "The others answer my letters."_

_"I still think it's the craziest thing that you all keep in touch," observed Naruto._

_Matatabi cleaned her face with a paw. Turning to Naruto, she pouted, saying, "Surely you speak with the friends you made during your Shinobi War from other lands."_

_"Well, I guess," said Naruto. "But you all live so far away, isn't it difficult to communicate?"_

_Shukaku waved a claw at Naruto. "We send messengers as you humans do. We are not much different."_

_Matatabi nodded. "Kokuo and his horse messengers are the fastest."_

_"So what's going on with Kokuo?" wondered Naruto._

_Shukaku sniffed, saying, "He's just sick of the cat being a busybody."_

_Naruto didn't want to worry them, but he had his suspicions. Suna wanted to seal the seven tails and make a jinchuriki. Iwa wanted to have the five tails. They wouldn't go back on their promises like that, would they?_

_Matatabi appealed to Naruto with huge eyes, asking, "Please, Naruto-sama, can you make sure that Kokuo is alright? I'm worried about him."_

* * *

**The Endgame Chapter 15 - Nara Shikamaru**

Shikamaru ducked as Naruto threw the heavy book at his head. "Jeez, Naruto, I'm trying to help."

Naruto pulled at his hair. "I don't understand this at all!"

Shikamaru sighed and sat down next to his friend. He picked up another one of the three pronged kunai and slammed it into the table. The point buried deep into the wood. "The theory is very similar to that of summoning contracts…" began the Nara genius.

"I got that part already," said Naruto impatiently.

Shikamaru nodded. "But with a summoning contract, to summon something you need to provide a sacrifice, that's why you need a drop of your blood."

"Yeah," said Naruto. "I understand that too. The blood from the sacrifice is the same as the blood on the contract scroll I signed, so that's why I can summon toads and stuff."

"Show me," commanded Shikamaru. "Summon something."

Naruto bit his thumb and slammed it down on the table. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

There was a large puff of smoke and then an orange toad with a blue vest appeared on the table. "What's up, boss?" asked Gamakichi.

"Just demonstrating a point," said Naruto.

Gamakichi hopped off the table creaking under his weight and crouched in the corner. "Whatca doing?"

"I'm trying to teach this idiot the Hiraishin no Jutsu," said Shikamaru.

Gamakichi laughed, "Good luck."

"Hey!"

Shikamaru put a hand to his forehead. "Okay, so your blood is the anchor when you're using the summoning jutsu right? That's what connects Gamakichi to this spot and you to the toads if they do a reverse summoning."

"Yeah," said Naruto. "But how does that relate to the Hirashin? What's with kunai? I don't understand."

"The summoning technique is a time and space ninjutsu that uses blood as the anchor between two different places. Because you signed their contact with your blood, you can use your blood to summon them to you and they can reverse summon you by calling on the blood in your body."

"Oh, neat," said Gamakichi. "Now I understand how reverse summoning work."

Naruto looked less sure. "But then how can toads reverse summon each other?"

"Same idea, blood. If they're the same species or if they sign another animal's contracts they can summon each other. Like species can summon their clansmen because their genetic material is similar enough that - just forget about that," said Shikamaru noticing Naruto's confused expression. "Back to the Hirashin, Okay?"

Naruto nodded. "Okay. So the Hirashin…"

Shikamaru pulled out a handful of the three pronged kunai from his kunai holster and threw then around the room to stick into the walls. "The Hirashin takes that concept and then builds on it. With summoning techniques, blood is the anchor, so that limits the scope."

Gamakichi raised his webbed hand. "But if you took some of Naruto's blood, could you summon me too?"

Shikamaru scratched his head. "I suppose that should work in theory."

The toad nodded. "I'm just asking because I've always wondered how Naruto was able to use his blood and the kyuubi's chakra to summon us."

Naruto scratched his head again. "Huh? What do you mean?"

Shikamaru waved his hand, dismissing the toad's question. "That's an interesting thought, Gamakichi, but we're just confusing Naruto. Let's get back to Hirashin."

"Right," said Gamakichi.

"So blood limits the scope of where people and places can be summoned," said Shikamaru, "because you need to be there to summon something with your blood. But with the Hirashin, it uses this special seal instead of blood as the anchor between time and space jumps."

"Oh," said Naruto. "That makes sense. I get it now."

Shikamaru quirked a half smile. He pointed at Gamakichi and said, "So Naruto, if you want to move about the room with the summoning technique, Gamakichi can summon you to where he's standing or you can summon him to where you're standing. Right?"

Naruto paused in thought. He bit his thumb again – the cut had already healed – and summoned Gamakichi over to himself. The toad laughed and they high fived. "I get it!" said Naruto excitedly.

Shikamaru nodded and continued, "But with the Hirashin, you're not just limited to that. If you use the Hirashin, you can move to anywhere that is marked with the Hirashin sealing formula. You can move onto the table where that kunai is," said Shikamaru flashing out of existence and reappearing on the table. "Or you can go to where I threw the kunai on the wall." The Nara genius blinked out of existence again and reappeared where there was a kunai on the wall near Naruto and Gamakichi.

"Awesome!" said Naruto. He concentrated his chakra and focused hard on the seal on the table. "Hirashin no Jutsu." He reappeared in a yellow flash on the table. "Awesome!" he repeated.


	10. Chapter 10

**The Endgame Chapter 28 - Interlude**

_Sakura stretched out under the umbrella that Saiken had put up for them. She was tired and didn't want to get sunburned. The slug bijuu burned just as easily as she did. _

_Naruto, naturally, was off frolicking with the turtles in the ocean. _

_The Land of Shells was like nothing she'd ever seen before. She had been so excited when Naruto had suggested it as a little weekend getaway for the two of them. She always loved seeing her slug summons in their natural habitat. _

_The ocean on that side of the world was indescribable. She could see clear down to the sandy floor. The water was a pleasant aquamarine – like her eyes, Naruto said – unlike the cobalt – like his eyes, she said – of the ocean bordering the Land of Fire. The sun was also more intense in the Land of Shells. Sakura had gotten a little sunburned on the first day there. Naruto had just gotten a nice tan. _

_She was tired because the night before they watched the turtle hatchlings crawl to the ocean. Isobu, the turtle bijuu, had showed Naruto and a little nest of turtle eggs on the beach and invited them to watch them hatch and make their way to the shore._

_She had spent the night nestled in Naruto's arms, waiting for the eggs to hatch and then watched as they fought their way out of their shells towards the ocean. She had clutched onto Naruto in amazement, so grateful to be sharing this miracle with him._

_He had smiled softly down at her, his eyes reflecting the stars wheeling above them. She wanted him to her kiss her so badly, but he was always such a gentleman; it was infuriating._

* * *

**The Endgame Chapter 17 - Yamato**

He glanced up as one of his ANBU agents walked into his office. By her HUMMINGBIRD mask and strawberry blonde hair, he knew it was Yamanaka Chika.

"How's tricks, taicho?"

Yamato could help the little smile from forming on his face. Yamanaka Chiko, like her younger clanswoman Yamanaka Ino, was an unrepentant flirt. Was being sexy and seductive rather than all that mind control stuff the bloodline of the Yamanaka clan?

Chika was a very capable kunoichi. Her bloodline wasn't as strong as Ino's – she couldn't do mind wipes – but she had quite a talent for genjutsu. She was one of his best ANBU captains.

He also had a horrible crush on her; it was horribly inappropriate for a man in his position as her superior.

He had gotten to know her several years ago while she was preparing for her jonin exams. She had begged him to teach her some A-level Suiton techniques. Her clan had mostly Earth Affinites and her sensei had a Fire Affinity, so she hadn't had too much training with her secondary water affinity. Her puppy dog eyes were impossible to resist so he'd agreed.

He still didn't know why she had thought wearing white while learning water ninjutsu was a good idea. Kami, he'd didn't want to even think about all the cold showers then his eighteen-year-old self had suffered through after their training sessions when she soaking wet and clinging onto him with those see through tank tops and skirt.

Chika walked over to him and handed him her report. "Mission successful. Maybe you could give me something _harder_ next time, Yamato?"

"Er," said Yamato, "I'll work on that."

"Please do. I can lend a _hand_ if you need me to. I'm pretty good at that sort of thing."

"I bet you are."

She giggled, taking off her mask to reveal green eyes, a dusting of freckles across her nose, pale skin, and glossy pink lips. She walked over to where he was sitting behind the desk and nudged his chair out from under the table with a sandaled foot. With a little smirk, she slid sideways onto his lap, using his right leg as her seat.

"We might have a problem, Yamato," she said, putting an arm around his shoulder. If she kept wriggling on his lap, they were going to have a problem. "I told him not to, but Naruto used Senjutsu again."

"Damn," he said, his hand coming to rest on her waist. "We've told him a thousand times not to use his signature moves."

She sighed and rested her head against his. "He said that he sometimes just can't help himself and has does something awesome."

Yamato rolled his eyes. "That's the worst excuse I've ever heard."

Her breath tickled his ear as she laughed. She turned pensive and said, "I think he might ask to be decommissioned soon. The ANBU lifestyle just isn't for some people."

Yamato took a deep breath. "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it."

Her green eyes twinkled as she asked, "Any plans tonight, _Captain_?"

He shrugged, trying to act cool as if a beautiful woman wasn't currently sitting in his lap. "Nothing interesting. What about you?"

She flipped her titian hair across her shoulder. "My plans fell through, can you believe that?"

"I'm shocked," quipped Yamato, bouncing her on his leg.

She winked at him. "I was going to go to the hot springs with some of my girlfriends, but they all to cancel."

"Unbelievable."

"I know, right? I'm going to be so _lonely_ tonight. I don't know what to do with myself."

"I'm sure that you won't have much trouble finding someone else to do."

"Yes," she agreed. "I think I've found someone."

Yamato blushed crimson. "Something - something else to do. I said something."

She ran a finger down his chest, purring, "Oh, I heard you the first time, Yamato."

**The Endgame Chapter 28 - Interlude**

_Naruto jumped off the back of Isobu into the water, whooping excitedly. He called to Sakura, "Stop lying there getting sunburned, come try out the water, Sakura-chan. It's awesome!"_

_Sakura put down her book and tugged the white dress she wore over her bathing suit off. She raced towards the shore where Naruto was cheering her on with the turtle summons. Channeling chakra on the soles of her feet, she ran over to where Naruto was jumping off the backs of the turtles into the ocean._

_With a fiendish grin, he climbed onto the surface of the water, before tacking her back into the ocean. With a little scream, she fell back, wrapped tightly in his arms, their slick bodies sliding against one another. They surfaced after a beat and he stared into her eyes, clutching her lithe form to his chest._

_Her expression turned serious as she titled her head up, waiting for him to kiss her._

_"Oi, Naruto! Watch this!" squealed one of the younger turtles._

_The moment was broken. She opened her eyes and saw him watching her pensively._


	11. Chapter 11

**The Endgame Chapter 17 - Haruno Sakura**

Sakura was standing at the pharmacy counter in the hospital, discussing the antidotes to poison that they had available when a woman walked up. She was wearing a teal dress that swirled around her knees as she walked.

Flipping her long strawberry blonde hair over her shoulder, she grinned at Sakura and asked, "How's the boyfriend, pumpkin? Glad to have him back from that mission?"

"Er," stuttered Sakura. "Naruto and I aren't dating."

The older Yamanaka woman laughed and handed her prescription to the pharmacist who went in the back to fill it. The woman grinned at Sakura. "Are you sure? I see you guys on dates all the time. Captain Yamato thinks it's just adorable."

Sakura felt mutinous. Yamato was spreading rumors about her now too? Putting her elbow on the counter and raising a delicate eyebrow at the other woman, Sakura asked, "I can't believe that Yamato's spreading rumors. What is it I'm supposed to have done?"

The other woman winked at her. "I know better than to ask. Kunoichi rule number nineteen: a kunoichi doesn't kiss and tell."

Sakura laughed, "I didn't know there were kunoichi rules."

The strawberry blonde woman winked and said, "There are shinobi rules, so of course kunoichi added a couple of their own. Have you heard the kunoichi toast?"

"What's that?"

Yamanaka Chika accepted the paper bag with her prescription from the pharmacist and winked at Sakura. "When you're out partying with your girlfriends, you say the kunoichi toast before you drink your sake. Anko-chan says that's it's an ancient custom going back generations, but I think that Tsunade-sama and her friends just made it up when they were younger."

"How does it go then?" wondered Sakura.

"Ino-chan hasn't told you before?"

Sakura shook her head. "We've only really started drinking sake since the war. Ino-chan's not really into drinking, but she comes out with us anyway."

Chika nodded and raised her little white bag to tap it against Sakura's elbow. "It's like this: May your senbon always stay sharp and your sake glass never run dry! And…"

"And may your husband never find out about your lover!" interrupted a voice from behind them.

The pair turned around to see Fujii Aiko grinning at them. She was wearing her lab coat over a bubblegum pink dress; her curly blonde hair had crunched up even more in the humid summer air.

"Corrupting the youth again, Chika-chan?" the doctor teased.

"Educating them," corrected Chika. "This poor girl doesn't know the kunoichi toast. Can you believe it?"

"Were you able to fill your prescription alright then, Chika?" asked Akio, changing the subject. "We're starting to run low on that particular potion. I'll have to request some more."

The pharmacist, who was shuffling around behind the shelves poked his head out. "We're running very low, Fujii-san."

Akio nodded. "This new birth control potion has been very popular among our kunoichi. It's very effective and doesn't have too many of the strange side effects of other methods."

"Yeah," said Chika. "I'm glad you mentioned it to me, Akio. A kunoichi can never be too careful. One unplanned pregnancy can be the end of a woman's career. I've seen it happen more often than I like to admit."

Akio glanced at the pink haired medical ninja. "I think we gave you a prescription too, Sakura. Have you been taking it?"

Sakura blushed and looked uncomfortable. Chika preened. "I thought you and Naruto weren't dating. What do you need birth control for, Sakura-chan?"

Sakura muttered, "I haven't taken it yet. My friend Ino gave me something else to try in the meantime. She said that she was on that and it had weird side effects."

Akio raised an eyebrow. "That must have been one of our earlier serums. We've perfected the recipe and greatly reduced all the side effects. It's perfectly safe and effective." Akio got her prescription pad and jotted something down, handing it to the pharmacist. "You should be careful using methods that haven't had considerable scientific testing. You're better using a drug that's been approved and tested than some little herbal remedy that Yamanaka Ino's cooked up."

Chika nodded in approval. "You need to be careful, Sakura."

The pharmacist handed Sakura a little paper bag identical to the one that Chika was carrying. In it were several little pink vials.

* * *

**The Endgame Deleted Scene – Interlude**

_Naruto sat next to her at Ichiraku's and poked her forehead again._

_"Quit it, Naruto!" Sakura protested._

_He ran his finger down the little purple diamond on her forehead. "So you store chakra behind your forehead?"_

_"Yep," she nodded._

_"Shizune was telling me that she can't even do that jutsu. You're amazing, Sakura!"_

_She blushed at the compliment. _

_"Could you teach me?"_

_Sakura snorted. "Is Shizune couldn't learn it, I doubt you could."_

_"Hey, I'm almost learned how to do the Hirashin."_

_"And Shikamaru is rueing the day he agreed to help you learn it."_

_"But I want to learn how to do Uzumaki Mito's jutsu too."_

_"Naruto, you have so much chakra that it wouldn't matter if you have a little stored behind your forehead. Compared to the Kurama's chakra and Senjutsu chakra, this would be only a little drop in the pail."_

_"But I would so cool with a purple diamond on my forehead," Naruto protested._

_Teuchi and Ayame both snorted. Sakura grinned up at them.  
_

* * *

**The Endgame Chapter 21 - Haruno Sakura**

She would recognize that voice anywhere. When she walked into her house after a thirty-six hour shift at the hospital wanting nothing but a hot meal, a bath, and a warm bed, she was taken aback at hearing Naruto laughing about something in the kitchen with her father. Her mother's voice was interspersed now and then with little questions and comments."

"…and then Kokuo whispered to me that snow leopards can't actually roar and I'd offended their leader, Yuki Hyou."

"Kokuo was the horse one, right?" asked her mother Mebuki.

"Yeah," said her father Kizashi. "He was the one with five tails, I think."

"So what did you do?" wondered Mebuki.

"Well I gave them my gift," answered Naruto.

Sakura walked quietly through the hallway towards the kitchen. She lingered silently in the doorway, the darkness and the silent tread of her feet making her civilian parents unaware of her presence. Naruto sat with his back to her in a chair. Her father sat next to Naruto on the side of the table facing Sakura. The blonde shinobi and her father were both nursing beers. Kizashi was too busy laughing and slapping Naruto on the back to notice his daughter lingering in the doorway.

"Not that bright orange sweater," said Kizashi in amusement.

"Yep," continued Naruto. He threw his arms out in a wide gesture. The back of his ridiculous orange jacket stretched over his broad shoulders.

Her mother was facing towards the oven, slipping on mittens as she went to take the casserole out of the oven. She turned towards Naruto and her husband, setting it down on the hot plate in the center of the table. She pulled back her chair and sat down across from Naruto. Her mother's normally stern expression was softened to one of wry amusement. "But you said that snow leopards prize secrecy and camouflage above all else, just like the ninjas do."

"Yeah," Naruto nodded his bright blonde head. "They totally do."

"So you offended them further by giving them that present?" wondered her mother with a giggle. "Oh, Naruto, you shouldn't be so reckless!"

"So what happened?" wondered her father.

"Well in the end Yuki Hyou was a good sport and let me sign their summoning scroll. Their tribe thought it was hilarious that I was so bad at camouflage and still the strongest ninja on the Shinobi continent." Her parents both laughed uproariously at that and Naruto turned to face Sakura with a grin. "Hi, Sakura-chan!"

Mebuki glanced across at her daughter, "Sakura, you're home! I hope you don't mind that we invited Naruto over for lunch."

Kizashi patted Naruto on the back and said, "We wanted to get to know our future son-in-law better."

"Dad!" Sakura gasped blushing bright red and finally walking into the room. She sat in the empty chair at the table between her mother and Naruto.

"I don't understand why you don't invite Naruto over more often, Sakura," chided her mother. "I hope you're not embarrassed of us."

Sakura was sure that her face was quickly turning the same color as her hair. "So what were you guys talking about?"

Her father grinned widely. "Naruto was telling us about his last journey to the continent of the summons and his meeting with the great snow leopard summons."

"How many summoning contracts is that now, Naruto?" wondered her mother.

"Uh," thought Naruto to himself. "About eleven, I suppose."


	12. Chapter 12

**The Endgame Chapter 30 - Interlude**

_Matatabi took him as far as Torikku Forest and then bounded back to the Land of Heaven. She was already running late for catnip with the Nekomata. Matatabi had chatted the entire way. She had some funny anecdotes about the goings on in the Cat Fortress, the latest missive from Gyuki in the Land of Ink, and the strange silence from Isobu in the Land of Shells. _

_So the jinchuriki was left alone to wander through the strange forests of the fox summons. Sun streamed in columns through the little breaks in the canopy, lighting Naruto's path through the wild undergrowth. It was so quiet. Should he…_

_'__**This is not a time to back out, Naruto**__,' said Kurama. '__**They've already sensed your presence. They will not be impressed if you run away from this**__.'_

* * *

**The Endgame Chapter 21 - Uzumaki Naruto**

Kakashi sat down in a seat in Yamato's office. "So what's up, Butsuma?"

"Butt, what?" sniggered Naruto. "Is that seriously your name, Captain Yamato?"

Yamato put a hand to his forehead and muttered, "It was my paternal grandfather's name."

"That sucks," muttered Naruto.

"You're named after fishcake, Naruto, I don't think you should talk," said Kakashi.

"I was actually named after a character in one of Jiraiya's books."

"You were named after a character in a soft porn novel?" Kakashi gaped.

"It was one of his other books," said Naruto scratching the back of his head and looking uncomfortable.

Naruto turned and then yelped when he noticed Yamato's scowl. "So what did you want to talk to us about, Naruto?" asked the ANBU commander.

"So I'm sort of thinking about retiring…" began Naruto.

"You're seventeen," noted Yamato.

"You better not plan to stick me with this job permanently," growled Kakashi. "It sucks. Tsunade was completely right. There's _so_ much paperwork."

"Kakashi, the only paperwork that you've been doing for weeks is not assigning that single S-Rank mission," Yamato quipped.

"The mission has really complex parameters," countered Kakashi.

"Er," interrupted Naruto. "I'm not planning to retire from being a shinobi. I want to retire from ANBU."

"Oh," said Kakashi with great relief. "That's fine then."

"Awesome," said Naruto pumping his fist in the air and jumping up from his chair.

"Not so fast, Naruto," said Yamato.

Naruto deflated, slipping back in his seat and looking at the ANBU commander in horror. "Not that scary face, Captain Yamato, I can't resist that."

Yamato rolled his eyes. "Now's not really a good time for you to retire from ANBU. Any other time I would be fine with it, but there's extenuating circumstances."

Naruto pulled at his hair. "But Chika-taicho never lets me use Kage Bunshin or the Rasengan or Kurama's chakra or Sage Mode or the Hirashin or my super awesome original Rasenshuriken jutsu or summon …"

"Yeah," said Yamato. "She doesn't want anyone to know who you are. All ANBU have that constraint."

Naruto scowled. "My codename is FOX, Yamato, how more obvious can you get?"

"Uh," wondered Yamato.

"I want to retire so I can go on regular missions and use all my awesome jutsu! Chika-taicho's totally cramping my style."

Kakashi and Yamato shared and amused glance. Yamato continued, "I'm sorry to do this to you, Naruto, but there is a reason for it. It's because of ROOT. We don't know how far they're infiltrated Konoha and keeping you in ANBU where we can keep an eye on your teammates is where you're safest."

"ROOT is after me?" wondered Naruto. "I thought we didn't know what their plans were."

Kakashi sat back and crossed his arms over his chest. "We don't. But if they can assassinate you, they will. You're the strongest shinobi in Konoha and our future Hokage. If anything happened to you—"

"Okay, I'll wait to retire from ANBU then," said Naruto, immensely flattered by Kakashi's reasoning.

* * *

**The Endgame Chapter 30 - Interlude**

_Naruto walked along the little dirt path that had been worn into the ground by many generations of visitors to Torikku Forest. The delicate fronds of the trees swayed gently in the breeze. The undergrowth was untamed here, very similar to the forests around Konoha. There were ferns sprouting up near the ground, vines grasping and clinging to trees as they climbed towards the sun. There were the beautiful wildflowers growing from the tips of the ferns and branches: pinks and purples and yellows and whites of flowers he didn't know the names of. The trees were a little different here though. They were wilder and older. All the same, they still had that indescribable magical quality of the trees built by Senju Hashirama._

_"This is a beautiful place," mused Naruto. "I bet you'd be happy here."_

_'__**It's not bad**__,' Kurama conceded._

_"Not bad?" Naruto laughed. "It's perfect!" _

_"Who are you talking to?" wondered a voice from a branch above Naruto's head. Naruto glanced up at the little white fox sitting on the branch of a tree. It's rested its head in its front paws. "Why you talking to yourself?"_

_"It's a little hard to explain," said Naruto. "You see—"_

_There was a noise from a tree on the other side of the path and a little vixen with a beautiful red coat, padded down the tree. She must have been able to channel chakra into her paws to allow her to walk down the tree like that. "Fukuyemon, can't you see that it's the jinchuriki?" she scolded. "Inari-sama foretold his coming and that of the Kyuubi no kitsune."_

_Fukuyemon pouted. "I know that, Hoseki. I was just—"_

_The white furred fox climbed down the tree in the same way that the vixen had to stand at Naruto's feet. Now that they were on the ground, Naruto realized that they were bigger than he had first thought. They were larger than the red foxes in the forests outside Konoha. They were more the size of a fully grown dog._

_The vixen stopped in front of Naruto. "We've been waiting for you. Inari-sama asked for us to bring you to him."_


	13. Chapter 13

**The Endgame Chapter 28 - Haruno Sakura**

Sakura looked down at her clipboard. She had finished seeing all of her patients for the day. She had been brought in to consult on the therapy for several amputations and was really pleased to see that their new puppet master jutsu therapy was working well for several of the patients.

Konoha wasn't as skilled at the puppet master jutsu as Suna; they didn't have the same long history of it that the Sand Village did. However, they had many ninjas skilled with chakra strings. Their physical therapists were helping the ninjas with new prosthetics to learn how to use chakra strings to operate and manipulate their new appendages.

One of the kenjutsu specialists, who had lost his sword arm during the war, was really excited to have his prosthetic fitted with several different types of blades. His battle prosthetic had a long blade coming out of his elbow, so he was learning new ways to fight with the blade on his elbow and the blades held in his hands.

As she walked down the hall towards the little room on the third floor that she used as an office, she smiled to herself. Going back to the hospital had been a wonderful idea. She had enjoyed helping her sensei at the Hokage Building, but there was really something about helping and healing the Konoha ninjas at the Hospital that gave her joy like nothing else.

When she walked into the office, she was surprised to see a ninja wearing ANBU fatigues and the all covering black ANBU cloak sitting at her desk. Naruto slipped back the hood, revealing his riotous blonde hair.

"Naruto? What are you doing here?" Sakura wondered.

Naruto sent a little breeze towards the door and it gently closed behind her. He jumped up from the chair and beamed at her, "Hi, Sakura-chan!"

Sakura looked at him in confusion. "It's the middle of the afternoon. What's going on? Is everything alright? Why are you in your ANBU fatigues?"

Naruto glanced down at his uniform and rubbed the back of his head with an apologetic smile. "I'm being sent away on a mission, so I wanted to stop by and say goodbye before I go."

Sakura blinked at him. "Goodbye? Are you going to be gone for a while? You don't usually say goodbye before going on missions."

Naruto looked down at his hands covered in the black ANBU gloves and metal arm guards. "It could be for a very long time or no time at all. I'm not sure."

Sakura put down her clipboard and walked over to him. "Promise me that you'll be safe."

Naruto reached a hand to her cheek, brushing a gloved hand over it. "I'll do my best, Sakura-chan. If I don't…I wanted…"

Sakura furrowed her brows in confusion. Naruto wasn't often lost for words. She smiled at him. "It's not like you're going to be gone forever, Naruto. We'll be seeing each other when you get back."

Naruto looked deeply into her eyes; there was a profound sadness in his cobalt blue eyes that made Sakura nervous. "At any rate, I didn't want to go before doing this."

He moved so quickly that Sakura barely had time to react before Naruto pulled her into his arms and closed his mouth over hers in a kiss. Sakura pulled back from him in alarm. "Naruto?"

Naruto stepped back from her. "I'm so sor…"

He wasn't able to complete the thought before Sakura grabbed him and reinitiated the kiss. She tangled her hands in his spiky hair, nipping at his lips and pulling him closer to her. Wrapping her arms around his shoulders, she clutched at the strong muscles of his back. She felt so girly and petite when wrapped in his arms and pressed against his muscular chest.

He devoured her with a furious need that made her heart pound and an unfamiliar warmth bloom deep in her belly. His hands drifted down to her bottom and lifted her up against him. He massaged her bottom as he carried her to the desk and set her down on it.

They lost themselves in a flurry of passion. Naruto slid her red shirt up her body, dropping leisurely kisses on her stomach. She let out a giggle as he blew a raspberry on her stomach. She was so glad that she had thought to take that little pink potion the other day.

Her bra was gone with a snap. She only realized the fact after he took one of her breasts in his hot mouth and began to twirl his tongue around her hard nipple. Her head fell back against the desk and she moaned his name.

The heat in her stomach had blossomed into delicious throbbing between her legs, made more frantic by the hardness of his erection pressing against her inner thigh. She had this ache, this ache that only he could fill.

She wrapped her legs around his waist. She could feel him insistent now against her inner thigh. Oh Kami, she needed him like she needed air. Her hands slipped under the waistband of his pants to take the heavy weight of him in her hands. She slid her hand down his shaft, not sure what she was supposed to do.

"S-Sakura!" he squeaked, going completely rigid. "What are you doing?"

"Naruto," she panted. "I want you to, please!"

He rested his head between her breasts panting. His warm breath puffing over her sternum sent shivers down her spine. "Not like this, Sakura," he gasped out finally. He turned his eyes, now dark with passion, on her. "I don't want our first time to be in the hospital against your desk. You deserve better than that."

Sakura put a hand to his cheek and smiled. "Let's go back to your place then. I can take the next hour off. I'll leave a note."

Naruto looked first completely flabbergasted and then conflicted. "They're already waiting for me at the village gate. I only thought this was going to take a second. I didn't think…"

Sakura chuckled, before kissing him lightly on the lips. "Then I'll just have to wait until you get back to the village after your mission."

Naruto rested his head against her heart and closed his eyes. "I love you, Sakura,"

* * *

**The Endgame Chapter 31 - Interlude**

_There was a small hill in the center of Torikku Forest where the great Fox elder Inari lived. It was there that the fox summons led Naruto. He was starting to get concerned about the stubborn silence from Kurama. The fox bijuu hadn't spoken since that pity comment about the forest a couple hours ago._

_'_Kurama, quit giving me the cold shoulder would you? This is important. I want to know what you would like me to say to Inari_.'_

_Kurama was stubbornly silent._

_'_There was some drama with getting the other bijuu settled into their new homes, I want to make sure that it goes smoothly for you. I want to get this done before I unseal you_.'_

_'__**Don't tempt me with what I can never have, Naruto**__,' came the grumbling voice of Kurama finally. '__**I can never be free while you live. I've rather you'd never come to this place**__.'_

_Naruto sighed in annoyance. '_I've told you already, I refuse to die before I become Hokage and I refuse to become Hokage until I've done right by you and the other bijuu Kurama_.'_

_'__**We both know that you must choose only one of those dreams. You can't accomplish both. It's suicide**__.'_

_'_My mother survived your unsealing, so will I."

_"__**Uzumaki Mito did not. And you mother perished soon after. You will die if you unseal me, Naruto. If you think otherwise, you're only deluding yourself**__.'_

_Naruto quirked his lips in amusement and said aloud with a laugh, "'I'm touched by your concern."_

_The little white fox summon turned back to Naruto with a key in his mouth. "Talking to yourself again, human?"_

_"Er," said Naruto, rubbing the back of his head. "Yeah. Let's go with that."_

_"He's communicating with the Kyuubi no Kitsune," said Hoseki, "that horrible beast which derives its strength from the darkness in men's souls. We're bringing him to Inariyama Hill, our most sacred place, and before the face of our great elder. It's a crime to defile our most sacred place like this."_

_Fukuyemon looked apologetic. "Inari-sama will decide. Come, we're almost there."_

_Naruto gazed in wonder at the path ahead. It was lined by thousands of orange torii placed in close intervals up the hill. Kanji had been carved into the wood and painted with teal ink. They were the prayers and promises of generations of fox summons._

* * *

**The Endgame Chapter 29 - Hatake Kakashi**

He hadn't been looking forward to the reconvening of the Five Kage Summit in the least. Naruto hadn't developed any better plan to convince the other kage that discontinuing the jinchuriki program was a good idea. Then on top of that was the matter of Yamanaka Ino and Nara Shikamaru's secret marriage. Koharu had refused to send anything, so Kakashi had been forced to do it. Yamato and Shizune had stood in front of the desk dictating the missive for him. Yamato had been rolling his eyes the whole time and Shizune had looked completely horrified and furious through it all.

Rumors had spread about the secret marriage and why it had finally been revealed. Koharu finally had to deal with some bad press oh her own making for a change. Kakashi relished it for a day or two until the council members had both turned up dead. They had been sitting in their office drinking tea.

All in all it wasn't going to be fun for him at the Five Kage Summit. With all the controversy at home with mysterious deaths and marriages, he was sure that the other kage would be regarding him with suspicion. He had already appointed the new council members, Kurenai and Iruka. Iruka had looked uneasy about the whole thing. He said he didn't want to benefit from an assassination that Kakashi had ordered. Lovely.

Naruto and Yamato trekked beside him across the mountains near Kumo. Pakkun was leading the way. The little ninja hound eyed the shinobi curiously. "Why the long faces, folks?"

Yamato glared at Kakashi. "I can't believe I have to go to this too. I was supposed to go on a date with Kimiko this weekend."

Kakashi shrugged. "Just reschedule for next week."

"I've been rescheduling!" said Yamato. "We still haven't had our first date and it's all your fault, Kakashi!"

"It's not my fault that you're my most trusted and trustworthy advisor/bodyguard," Kakashi said winking.

"I thought you were dating my ANBU captain, Chika-taicho," interrupted Naruto with a glare. "Are you double timing her?"

Yamato gaped. "I'm not dating Chika. I can't; she's a subordinate."

Kakashi waved his hand. "Excuses."

"You should have made Shikamaru go with you instead," growled Yamato. "He's the one causing half the controversy anyway. I can't believe this. I'm here trying to cover for him and his secret marriage to Ino and he's off enjoying it. It's simply not fair."

"Er," said Naruto. "Even I can see that might not be wise. Darui and C would probably punch Shikamaru in the face right when they see them. Omoi was telling me that C is furious, like really pissed, like utterly without –"

"We get it," sighed Kakashi. "The Raikage and his advisor are pissed. I wish to Kami that someone had assassinated me instead of Koharu and Homaru so I don't have to deal with this."

"Don't say that, Kakashi-sensei," Naruto scolded.

"Who do you think did it then?" wondered Yamato. "I know we didn't authorize anything like that even if everyone thinks we did."

Kakashi sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "I think it was Shikamaru or Ino. They were furious at the council and had reason and motive. Yamanaka Ino is capable of distilling a tincture of belladonna. I've questioned Shikamaru, but he denies any involvement."

"You think he was lying?" wondered Yamato. "Have you brought him into T&I?"

"I don't want to stir up any more controversy. It's better kept quiet."

Yamato looked surprised. "But Shikamaru is so pragmatic. I can't see him engaging in a crime of passion like that."

Kakashi shook his head. "That's what I would have thought before seeing him at the meeting with the council. When they announced to us about Ino's arranged marriage he completely lost it."

"Shikamaru completely lost it?" gasped Naruto. "That's something I got to see."

"I heard when he was talking down Hidan, he was cool as a cucumber. It's hard to imagine the Nara boy losing his composure about anything," said Yamato.

"You forget that he is also a fire nature, earth and fire," said Kakashi. "His emotions are buried under a façade of pragmatism, but he's very passionate deep down."

"Yeah, yeah," said the pug. "Are you guys going to gossip about this all day? If I wanted to watch my soaps, I would have stayed home."

"You're just as bad as us, Pakkun," scolded Kakashi. "Weren't you just gossiping to Naruto about what's going on at the Cat Fortress?"

The little dog huffed and said, "It's not gossip. I was just telling Naruto what was relayed to me. The cats and raccoon dogs are getting anxious now that Matatabi and Shukaku haven't returned."

"How long have they been missing?" Naruto wondered.

"Since last night," said the little pug.

Naruto frowned.

"Do you think someone's making jinchuriki?" asked Yamato. "You said that you hadn't heard from the three tails, five tails, or seven tails in some time either, Naruto. Could that be because someone's been creating jinchuriki again? Each of the other four villages wanted to create jinchuriki with those bijuu."

Naruto sighed, "Suna wanted Chomei and Matatabi. Gaara couldn't do that right?"

Kakashi glanced around the cliff face with his one visible eye. "I wouldn't advertise that, folks. If anyone is, that's a very serious matter. The kage have agreed to postpone creating jinchuriki until we've come to an agreement in the Summit today.


	14. Chapter 14

**The Endgame Chapter 32 - Interlude**

_The fox summons led Naruto through the path up the mountain and paused before a bridge spanning a small lake. A gilded arch stretched across the entrance to the bridge, making it difficult to see the temple ahead. His two guides inclined their heads. "You will proceed alone from here."_

_"I'm never alone," Naruto countered in reply._

_Naruto passed the two foxes and wandered across the bridge. His heart thudded in his chest. What would the Fox Boss have to say to him and Kurama?_

_The temple for Inari was an immense structure built on the other side of the large bridge. The tower didn't climb very high into the sky, but the façade was very ornate with gilding along the peaked towers and marble floors. His ninja sandals echoed hollowly in the immense hall. The ceiling stretched hundreds of feet in the air. Naruto was certain that Gamabunta could stand comfortably in the hall. The large toad's warty head wouldn't even be able to touch the ceiling. Inari must be similarly massive._

_A loud voice grumbled from behind the closed door at the end of the hall. "I've been waiting for you."_

* * *

**The Endgame Chapter 30 - Uzumaki Naruto**

All the usual suspects were gathered around the table again. All the kage were watching him curiously as he stood behind Kakashi. He glared at them. It hadn't escaped his notice that his friends in the Continent of the Summons were going missing – the missing bijuu were the ones that the other four villages wanted to reclaim to seal into jinchuriki.

His eyes meet Gaara's and the betrayal pierced like a katana through his heart. Two of the bijuu that Suna hoped to acquire were missing – his friends Matatabi and Chomei. Of all people, how could Gaara betray him like this? Gaara knew what this meant to him. He had been a jinchuriki too. Of all people, he should have understood what Naruto was trying to accomplish.

C was standing behind the Raikage with his arms crossed over his chest. He looked equally pissed. Naruto felt slightly bad about that. Koharu and Homura had gotten his hopes up, which were soon crushed as the truth of his fiancé's secret marriage to another man was made public.

But really, Naruto had more reason to be pissed. So C's love life was a mess, Naruto was trying to ensure that the whole shinobi world didn't become a mess and people were trying to fight him at every turn. That was truly upsetting.

Sure, Ino was a nice girl, but she and Shikamaru were crazy about each other. Any fool with eyes could see that. C was deluding himself if he thought he stood a chance with Ino against a rival like Shikamaru.

Naruto's internal monolog-ing was cut short as the kage's began their meeting.

"We've been hearing some interesting rumors coming out of Konoha these days, Kakashi-sama," said Mei Terumi with an infuriating smirk.

"Indeed," Kitsuchi said. "I've been hearing strange rumors about that Yamanaka girl and Nara boy."

"I can hardly see how this is relevant to our summit meeting," interrupted Gaara. "We're supposed to be here to talk about what to do with the bijuu, not about Yamanaka Ino's love life, as interesting as it might be."

Darui's arms were crossed over his chest as he glared at Kakashi. "Your village offered mine a huge insult. I don't know who she thinks she is, playing with C like that."

Kakashi grimaced. "I've already explained the situation to you. It was all a horrible misunderstanding. Our village elders arranged the marriage before making Yamanaka Ino aware of it. Had she known, she would have informed us of her secret marriage before things spiraled as far out of control as they did."

"They arranged the marriage without her consent?" asked Mei Terumi. "What sort of operation are you running over there, Kakashi?"

"That woman was a spider, seducing my advisor C like that," said Darui.

"I'm sure it wasn't like that," said Kakashi. "Ino's a bit of a flirt, but I doubt she would have led C on if she was already married to Shikamaru."

Darui picked up a pile of letters and slammed them on the table in front of him. "Then why did she answer all his letters? I brought them all here for you to read, Kakashi."

Kakashi grimaced. "I assure you that will not be necessary."

"It's bad enough about the scandal," said Kitsuchi, "but then for the Yamanaka girl to go and poison the Konoha Council. I can't believe that she hasn't been put in chains. She's a criminal."

"A black widow," agreed Darui. "I propose a vote that she be turned over to Kumogakure to be tried for her crimes."

"You can't be serious," said Kakashi.

"We're dead serious," said Darui. "I vote yes. How do you vote?"

"Aye," said Kitsuchi.

"Aye," said Mei Terumi.

"Nay," said Gaara.

"Nay," said Kakashi. "If she's committed any crime, Konoha will ensure that she answers for it."

"I sincerely doubt your capability in administering justice, Kakashi," said Kitsuchi. "The whole affair has been a scandal from start to finish. You can't be serious in protecting this girl. Is she sleeping with you too?"

"No," said Kakashi firmly. "But can we please get back to the reason we meet today? This whole thing about Yamanaka Ino is giving me an ulcer."

Darui rolled his eyes. "Okay, we'll get back to her later. You wished for us to discuss the matter of the redistribution of the bijuu and the continuation of the jinchuriki program."

"Yes," said Kakashi.

"Our opinion is unchanged," said Darui. "We wish to reinstitute the program."

"As do we," said Mei Terumi.

"Iwa is anxious to begin training new jinchuriki," said Kitsuchi.

"Konoha is still against reinstituting the program," said Kakashi.

The Tschikage, Mizukage, and Raikage rolled their eyes. "Because you already have a jinchuriki," said Darui. "It's very convenient for you."

Gaara cleared his throat and said, "Suna has changed its vote from last month. We would like to implement the jinchuriki program again. We also would like to propose that Konoha provides us with access to their sealing scrolls and sealing masters and that Kumo provides us with access to their Island Turtle for the training of the jinchuriki."

"You too, Gaara?" said Naruto softly.

"I'm sorry Naruto. I need to think of my village first," said the red haired man. "The elders convinced me that we cannot protect ourselves unless we retrain jinchuriki."

Naruto's blue eyes flashed. "I thought you of all people would understand, Gaara. If we don't learn from our mistakes, we'll be forced to forever repeat this cycle of hate. Jinchuriki are just the first step in that."

Gaara's green eyes took in his friend, trying to convince him of his point. "But Naruto, we've learned from our mistakes. The reason I suffered was because I – like all jinchuriki – was treated like a leper by my village and wasn't trusted because of the weakness of my seal and my lack of training with the Shukaku.

"You, Naruto, you're an example of what jinchuriki should be. You taught me to seek acknowledgement from my village. We can teach this to our jinchuriki. We will treat them like human beings, like people. That will help to end the cycle of hate.

"I suffered because my seal was nowhere near as strong as those from Kumo or Konoha. You are descended from the Uzumaki, the clan most skilled at sealing. If you teach us their Fuuinjutsu, we can ensure that our jinchuriki won't suffer because of poor sealing."

Naruto crossed his arms over his chest. "Yes, that will make the experience better for jinchuriki, but in my opinion it is the practice itself of confining another inside us that's the injustice."

"I hardly think-" began Kitsuchi.

Naruto pulled up his shirt and molded chakra to show the kages his seal. "This seal is beautiful and powerful, but it supports a great evil and injustice in our world. How would you like to be ripped from your homes and your families and sealed into some _strange_ creature? No hope of ever seeing your clan, your village again? Beaten into submission and imprisoned and then forced to cater to the every whim or your jailor. Can you honestly say that this is a good thing? Is this right? Is this just? Who are we to enslave another living creature like this?"

Mei Terumi blinked in surprise. "I hadn't thought of it like that."

"I've seen them," Naruto continued. "I've been to visit them in their new homes. I've sat at table with them and their new families. They have lives after so many years of being prisoners. How can you in good conscience take that away from them again?"

The five kage were silent in contemplation. Gaara was looking down at his hands, reconsidering. Mei Terumi was biting her lip. Kitsuchi looked conflicted and Darui looked thoughtful.

"That brings us to another point we'd like to bring up," said Kakashi from where he sat in front of Naruto. He cleared his throat and said, "We've received intelligence that one or all of you haven't obeyed our agreement from the last Five Kage Summit."

"Oh?" wondered Mei Terumi. "What is it we're supposed to have done, Kakashi?"

Naruto whirled on her. "What have you done with Isobu, Mizukage? You promised that your village would not create a jinchuriki but you lied right through your teeth."

"Mizukage!" yelled Kitsuchi jumping up. "How dare you!"

Naruto glared at him. "And you, Tsuchikage. Who did you seal Kokuo into? Did you feel at all guilty for reneging on your promise like you did?"

Kitsuchi glared at Naruto. "My village has not created any jinchuriki. I don't know what you're talking about."

Darui crossed his arms over his chest. "This is a serious accusation, Tsuchikage. We're going to require a full investigation into this matter. And you, Mizukage."

"Oh, I'm not done," yelled Naruto. "Kumo's taken Shukaku and made a bijuu with him." He whirled on Gaara, pointing his finger at the shorter man. "And you, I thought you were my friend, but you've stolen Matatabi and Chomei and created both of the jinchuriki that you wanted. How could you do this, Gaara?"

Gaara and Darui stood up at the table. Gaara turned sad eyes on Naruto. "We have not created any jinchuriki, Naruto. Suna has kept its promise."

"And Kumo as well," said Darui. "Unlike Konoha, we take our promises seriously."

Naruto crossed his arms over his chest. "Then why are all the bijuu disappearing? Who else could be taking them?"

"Naruto, you're the only one who has summoning contracts with them," said Gaara. "Suna does not possess summoning contracts for the raccoon dogs, cats, turtles, monkeys, slugs, beetles, or octopi."

The other kage turned to look at each other. Darui turned his head to look at Naruto with a glare. "Konoha has them. Naruto has all of those scrolls as do other ninjas in their village. The Uchiha have often had cat summons. Uchiha Sasuke already has snake and hawk summons, it is likely that he has a cat summoning contact as well."

"I know for a fact that Might Guy has a turtle summons," said Mei Terumi. "And the Sarutobi clan is known for their monkey summons."

Kitsuchi nodded in agreement. "Tsunade had a slug summoning contract and she passed that onto Haruno Sakura. And the Aburame clan is known for their bloodline which involves beetles. They have access to a beetle summoning contract."

Darui raised an eyebrow at Naruto. "Trying to cover your tracks, Konoha? Is one jinchuriki not enough for you? You needed to make five more?"

Kakashi shook his head. "We have not created any new jinchuriki. We only have the one."

Naruto shook his head. "That's the last item I wished to discuss. One of the reasons that we have had so much trouble coming to an agreement about the jinchuriki program is because Konoha still possesses one jinchuriki, me."

"Your point?" asked Kitsuchi.

"Konoha won't ask you to discontinue the jinchuriki program while we still possesses one. I wish to put an end to this cycle of hate forever; therefore, I have decided that I will extract the Kyuubi from myself."

"What?" Kakashi roared, leaping up from his chair. His normally impassive face was furious. "What are you talking about, Naruto? This is my first time hearing about this!"

"I didn't tell you, sensei, because I knew that you wouldn't approve."

"Absolutely not," said Mei Terumi. "You can't do that, Naruto. I forbid it."

"Me too," said Gaara, "under no circumstances can you do this Naruto. You'll die."

"You are much too valuable to do something so foolish," said Kitsuchi.

"Kumo won't stand behind this, Naruto," said Darui.

Kakashi looked at him. It was the most emotion that Naruto had ever seen in his sensei's single eye. "Naruto, don't, please."

Naruto chuckled wryly. "The five kage are finally in agreement. I thought that was impossible. But I'm sorry; this is something that I have to do. I'm living a lie otherwise. You can't stop me. Goodbye, everyone. It's been a blast."

Yamato made to grab him, but Naruto pulled out a familiar three pronged kunai and was gone in a yellow flash.

* * *

**The Endgame Chapter 32 - Interlude**

_The massive white fox's head rested in his front paws. The paws were ringed with crimson patches along his wrists and his magnificent tail waved behind him, ringed in golden tail rings. His neck was similarly adorned with a ruby studded collar. The fox sat on a cushion of crimson velvet, watching Naruto curiously._

_"The Jinchuriki and Kyuubi no Kitsune," said the fox. "I've heard tales of your travels to the other realms of the summons."_

_Naruto rubbed the back of his head. "Er, yeah, we've-"_

_The fox continued, "I've also heard about how the freed bijuu have joined the lands of the summons. But why have you come here? The Kyuubi no Kitsune is still your prisoner."_

_"Kurama will not always be my prisoner."_

_Inari raised an eyebrow and looked at Naruto with curious golden eyes. "Indeed. Have you come to speak for the fox? Or will you allow him to speak for himself."_

_"_Kurama_?" asked Naruto in his own mindscape._

_"__**I will speak on my own behalf**__," Kurama answered taking possession of Naruto's body._

_Inari lifted himself onto his paws and padded down from the large velvet cushion. Pacing around Naruto he said, "You are a spirit, a creature of heaven and earth. You don't belong here. Why should I let you enter my realm and become one of us?"_

_"__**You fear my power**__," said Kurama. "__**You would be right to. I could crush your pitiful realm with a swing of one of my tails**__."_

_"_Kurama_," warned Naruto in his mind, "_you're not helping your case_."_

_"If we are so insignificant, why have you come here? Do you seek to rule us?"_

_"__**I have no interest of becoming a king or a god. I only wish to live my life as my own**__**ruler**__."_

_"Then you wish for freedom?"_

_"__**Above all else," **__said Kurama. He paused for a moment and amended__**, "If the cost is tolerable**__."_

_"Then you will be allowed to enter our lands and become a citizen of our realm when you are free."_

_Kurama released his control and allowed Naruto to take back control of his body._

_"Thank you, Inari-sama," said Naruto._

_"You may sign our sealing scroll on your way out of the village," said Inari. "Fukuyemon is waiting for you with it."_


	15. Chapter 15

**The Endgame Chapter 33 - Hatake Kakashi**

After the very strange meeting with Shikamaru and Ino, Kakashi body flickered to the little clearing outside the village. He hadn't been there in years - nearly seventeen to be exact.

Seventeen years ago the only evidence of the terrible battle that had been waged there between the Kyuubi, Namikaze Minato, and Uzumaki Kushina had been the piles of earth dug up by the beast's claws and the circular holes in the ground where Kushina had used a special jutsu to keep the beast in place.

There hadn't even been any blood when Kakashi went last time. The area must have been cleaned up by the other ANBU. Sarutobi had made sure that Kakashi wasn't among the clean-up team. He was grateful for that.

He never thought he'd have to return seventeen years later to prevent his sensei's son from making the same foolish sacrifice.

He arrived just as Naruto finished painting a seal on the ground. It was massive and beautiful. Naruto's normally unreadable penmanship was flawless when executing seals.

"Naruto, stop!" Kakashi yelled hoarsely, running towards the boy.

Naruto slammed his hands on the ground and activated the seal. A huge barrier came to existence between them. Kakashi hit against it and bounced back unharmed.

"Don't do it Naruto!"

"I'm sorry, Kakashi," he said.

* * *

**The Endgame Chapter 33 - Interlude**

_The village was on fire. Buildings fell like matchsticks from a swing of the beast's mighty tails. Homes and businesses burst into flames, consuming others in the conflagration. Kakashi and the rest of his chunin classmates were ushered into the forest outside the city by Kurenai's father and several other jonin._

_The chakra was like nothing he'd ever felt before. It was so dense and dark and frightening. He had felt killing intent from other ninjas, but not of this magnitude. It was so dark that Kakashi just wanted to curl up and die. _

_Where was sensei? Where was the Yondaime Hokage?_

_The Sandaime had mustered the older ninjas of the village and was leading the attack on the beast, trying to force it out of the village. But where was sensei? He had laid low battalions of Iwa ninjas during the war. If anyone could bring down the Kyuubi no Kitsune, it would be Namikaze Minato._

_Kurenai was arguing with her father and Kakashi wasn't sure if he wanted to argue along with her or not. He wanted to run through the village and find his sensei. Was Minato with Kushina? She was massively pregnant, due any day now. Where was she, where were they? Kakashi prayed that their son would be alright. The hospital was one of the first buildings to be obliterated by the bijuu's rampage._

_Kurenai's father shunshined away to join in the fighting and Kakashi and his classmates were left alone to sit and watch their village razed to the ground._

_"Where's the Yondaime Hokage?" someone asked from behind him._

_Kakashi turned back the voice and saw the concerned eyes of Shiranui Genma. "He'll be here," said Kakashi. "He'll come."_

_Minato couldn't be dead. He couldn't have died during the leveling of the hospital. He just couldn't have._

_There was a sudden unearthly quiet that sent a shiver down Kakashi's spine. That deadly chakra felt distant as if it had been…_

_"The Yondaime Hokage! It's his jutsu," hollered a Hyuga clan member towards the back of the group. He had his Byuakugan activated in the direction of Konoha as he watched the battle rage between the ninja of his village and the terrible beast. "Minato-sama's sent the Kyuubi outside the village!"_

* * *

**The Endgame Chapter 33 - Haruno Sakura**

Sakura yawned and leaned back in her chair. She had read that same line on the page three separate times. The mighty tome about internal medicine might have been interesting if it wasn't so close to her bedtime. She closed the book and wandered over to the window. She had a beautiful view of the Hokage Monument from her bedroom window. Maybe that was why she had always been so interested in becoming a kunoichi. She had spent her childhood looking out that window and daydreaming.

She wondered when Naruto would get…

She jumped back as Yamato's face appeared in front of her in the window. The ANBU commander breathed a sigh of relief and pulled open the window to climb into her bedroom.

"Captain Yamato, what are you…" began Sakura.

"Thank Kami you're home. Hurry, there's an emergency."

By his pale face and trembling hands, she knew something was seriously wrong. Captain Yamato was usually impossible to catch by surprise. He was a true ANBU operative. That could only mean one of two things.

"It's Naruto isn't it?" Sakura gasped out. Her hands were trembling now too. "He said some strange things to me before leaving for his mission. What's happened?"

"He's planning to unseal the Kyuubi from himself."

"What!" Sakura screamed. "Where is he?"

"Outside the village where his father unsealed him. Hurry, we don't have much time. He might have started without us."

They made the signs for the body flicker jutsu and appeared on the edge of the village. The Hokage was a hundred yards ahead of them, screaming and beating against a barrier. The immense purple rectangle was impenetrable even to Kakashi. When had Naruto become a sealing master?

Shikamaru and Ino appeared in a puff of smoke next to them. "Shit," gasped the Nara genius. "He's already started."

Sakura was already off running towards the barrier, channeling chakra to her fists. She would beat through that barrier if she had to.

Within the barrier, Naruto sat cross legged with his eyes closed as he channeled chakra carefully and wove hundreds of handsigns. She would have been impressed if the situation wasn't so dire. She arrived at the barrier a few seconds before the others only to be blown off her feet by a huge blast of chakra from within.

He'd begun.


	16. Chapter 16

**The Endgame Chapter 34 - Interlude**

_"You…you are just another ignorant shinobi pawn…you too…no, everyone here will one day be like me," Uchiha Obito taunted._

_"I'll never become like you!" Naruto yelled "I'll say it as many times as I need to: I'm going to become the Hokage!"_

_Obito sneered at his sensei's son. "Have no fear…if everything goes well, there will no ninjutsu that can defy the infinite tsukiyomi and within it, you shall become Hokage." _

_The Juubi powered up another bijuu bomb at point blank range. "So…Disappear," Obito concluded._

_Behind him, Kakashi-sensei, Gai-sensei, and Killer B-sensei each took a deep breath. Who were they thinking about as death stared them in the face? Naruto could sense his friends coming, would they get there in time? Naruto closed his eyes and prayed. This last thought was of Sakura's smiling face just behind his eyelids._

_The bijuu bomb rocketed just off to the side, clearing a ravine of destruction clear out to sea. Behind him, someone gasped, "It missed?"_

_Suddenly they were all gathered behind him, his friends. Hinata and Ino had redirected the Juubi's terrible attack. Shino and his clan and the Kiri ninjas sent out jutsu to hide everyone's presence. Behind him, his comrades from Konoha and their allies from Kiri and Kumo and Iwa and Suna gathered._

_"We got your back, Naruto!" Choji yelled._

_Karui and Omoi ran over to their sensei with wide grins. Lee, Sai, Shizune, and Sakura ran to make sure that Kakashi and Gai were alright._

_"First battalion arrived," came Darui's proud voice from behind him._

_"Second battalion arrived," Kitsuchi bellowed._

_"Third battalion arrived!" called one his Konoha comrades._

_"Fourth battalion arrived," said Shikamaru standing in front his group._

_"Same goes for the Fifth battalion!" yelled the samurai, Mifune._

_"The medical squad is here too!" shouted Shizune._

_"Sensing squad present!" proclaimed C from Kumogakure._

_The enemy sneered and swept away the mist covering the battlefield. Naruto stood in front of the army holding out his hands in the handsigns for the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu. He couldn't hide his proud and confident smile. "Take a good look because what we have here is the Ninja Alliance Jutsu, the most terrifying and awesome jutsu in ninja history! _

* * *

**The Endgame Chapter 34 - Uzumaki Naruto**

It was hard to concentrate with his friends screaming and beating against the barrier he'd put up. He was glad that he's put it up, though it had used a larger portion of his chakra than he would have liked. They might have been able to stop him otherwise.

"**Don't do this, Naruto**," said Kurama. "**Uzumaki Mito waited until she was about to die before unsealing me. You should do the same. There's no need to throw away your life like this."**

Naruto chuckled to himself. "_How can I ever become Hokage if I can't keep a simple promise to a friend?"_

"**I suppose I shouldn't be surprised**," Kurama groused. "**This foolish stunt is precisely the sort of thing you would do**."

"_This is the only way that I can break the cycle of hate_," said Naruto. "_I need to set an example for others to follow_."

"**How can you do that when you're dead**?"

"I promise that I won't die," said Naruto aloud. "Now stop distracting me. This is really difficult. I need to concentrate."

"**Then get started, Naruto**," said Kurama. "**Please be careful**."

He needed to be very precise with his chakra output. He had thought about storing chakra like Sakura did and then using some of that later, but he didn't have precise enough chakra control to accomplish something like that. He tried for several weeks, but it didn't work for him.

In all the books and lectures Shikamaru had given him on the subject, Naruto learned that that the user needed to expend an equal or greater amount of chakra as they were unsealing for it to work. That was why the Akatsuki had used all their members to unseal the bijuu. In that way, they could spread the burden of the chakra expenditure among their members.

Naruto had no such luxury.

Uzumaki Mito's had been super old when she had Kurama unsealed. But she hadn't been the one to do it. Sarutobi Hiruzen, Shimura Danzo, Mitokado Homura, Utatane Koharu, Hatake Sakumo, Senju Tsunade, Orochimaru and Jiraiya had all assisted her in the unsealing the Kyuubi from Mito and sealing it into Kushina. He'd read about it in the secret Hokage scrolls.

Mito had died after the Kyuubi was unsealed. Much of her chakra was used up in the process as the Kyuubi had tried to resist being sealed into a new prison. She had also been like a hundred years old, so she might have just died of old age.

But in all his readings, no one had ever removed a bijuu from themself alone. It just wasn't done. There were always several people and several chakra sources involved in the process.

His father had done it after the war and gave the rest of Kurama's chakra to him sealed into a beautiful little fox statue. Minato had used his own chakra to unseal the Kyuubi, but he was an Edo Tensei shinobi. When Minato did it, he brought himself to the brink of death and then regenerated like fifty times before he was done. His dad's chakra supply wasn't as big as Naruto's, but his chakra control was flawless.

That didn't bode well for Naruto.

The Kyuubi just had a ridiculous amount of chakra! Naruto himself had like four times the amount of chakra of an average jonin, but Kurama had like 100 times the chakra of an average jonin!

It had taken him almost a month to come up with this plan. He had thought about asking Shikamaru for help and being vague about the particulars, but he knew that Shikamaru would latch onto his intentions in a second if he revealed too much.

So Naruto decided to try something else. He could access three different chakra sources after all! He could use sage chakra to unseal Kurama's chakra! Sage chakra was something that he could replenish as he went along! Why had no one thought of it before? When he was in sage mode, he could double his chakra and the kyuubi's chakra. It was genius!

Naruto split Kurama's chakra into ten parts. He had tested this a couple times and discovered that he usually needed to expend ten times as much chakra as he was unsealing in order to accomplish the task. He would focus on unsealing just one part at a time and replenish his sage chakra as he went. Then he could combine the remaining nine parts together and split them into ten parts again and repeat the process until he was left with an amount of the Kurama's chakra that he could handle on his own. He would wait until the very end before using his own chakra.

Sitting down on the grass and focusing on being utterly still, Naruto went into Sage Mode. He focused on only one part of the ten Kyuubi chakra units. The Kyuubi's chakra cloak bubbled around him as he wove hundreds of handsigns to cast the jutsu. He had practiced for weeks with hundreds of shadow clones, making sure that he didn't forget a single handsign.

Kami, this was going to take forever. He wasn't that good at math, but he'd done the calculations. He wished that he could have had Shikamaru or Sakura check them, but what would they say when he showed them the equation?

Naruto, are you trying to unseal the Kyuubi? Are you crazy?

Luckily it would only take about a minute to unseal each portion of the Kyuubi's chakra, but he would have to do it like thirty-five times. Though after the tenth time he could start breaking Kurama's chakra into ninths, then after the twentieth time into eights, and then after the twenty-fifth time he could break it into large pieces about every other time, so that would make the process go faster.

It took almost forty minutes, but Kurama was finally free from his prison within Naruto. Naruto stood up from the ground, stretching. He was creaky from sitting utterly still for so long. Taking out the little statue that his father had given him, he released the remainder of Kurama's chakra.

The ying and yang aspects merged together until finally Kurama towered in front of Naruto, massive and red furred and wondrous. Naruto fell to his knees, more exhausted than he'd ever been in his entire life. He wove the handsigns for his last jutsu. He had just enough chakra left to send Kurama to his new home.

"You're a fool, Naruto!" yelled Kurama. Naruto was surprised to see tear's in the Kyuubi's eyes.

Turning to Kurama with a smile, he said, "Say hi to Inari, Fukuyemon, and Hoseki for me."

Kurama realized a second too late what Naruto was about to do. It seemed that Naruto had spent most of his day taking his friends by surprise. Slamming his hands down on the ground, Naruto called out, "Gyaku Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

The Kyuubi disappeared with a roar and Naruto collapsed against the grass. He looked up at the sky with a smile. He had done it! He closed his eyes, finally surrendering to oblivion.

* * *

**The Endgame Chapter 34 - Interlude**

_"We need a frigging medic," Naruto shrieked in horror as Neji fell into his arms._

_"No, it's too late," Neji gurgled._

_"Neji," Naruto rasped._

_Neji coughed and Naruto could feel the blood dripping down his back._

_"Ni-san," whispered Hinata._

_Naruto gasped out, "Why, Neji, not in a place like this! You're the Hyuga's—"_

_Neji coughed again and said with a smile in his voice, "The words you said to me once freed me from the shackles of my curse-"_

_Scalding tears dripped from his eyes. "Why would you go this far for me…?! Sacrificing your life!"_

_The Hyuga genius gripped Naruto tighter, blood dribbling out of his mouth. "Because, I was called a genius…"_

_Naruto helped him onto the ground and screamed again for a medic. The cursed seal was already beginning to fade from Neji's forehead. Hinata was holding Neji's hand and weeping bitterly. Neji's smile was so peaceful. He smiled at both of them before looking up into the sky. There was a faraway look in his eyes as he whispered, "I finally understand, father, the freedom of being able to choose your own death..."_

_Naruto looked down in horror as Neji breathed his last. Around him his friends were whispering, was Neji dead? Impossible! Obito's words began to weave a spell on him. How could this have happened? He promised that he wouldn't allow any of his friends to die. He had reneged on his promise again just as he had with Sakura and Sasuke. He-_

**_"It's no longer just your own life, little shit!"_**_ called the familiar voice of Kurama inside him. __**"Have you forgotten that I'm here?"**_

_Naruto blinked in surprise. _"I know that! Breaking my bonds with my comrades isn't even an option. But…the truth of the matter is… Neji is-"

**_"If you're going to sulk like a school girl, I may as well beat the shit out of you and take control of your body now!"_**_ Kurama taunted. __**"Have you forgotten? The moment you entered this world, your parents without a moment's hesitation did as Neji has done. They gave their lives sealing me, their mortal enemy, inside their own son for the sake of the future. From the very beginning, your life, my life, their lives, and all the lives here have shared an unbreakable bond!"**_

"You're right, Kurama,"_ muttered Naruto, "_thank you for putting my head on straight again."

**_"Oh, whatever,"_**_ said Kurama. __**"Let's go kick their asses, Naruto!"**_


	17. Chapter 17

**The Endgame Chapter 35 - Nara Shikamaru**

That noble idiot. Ino was sobbing next to him, beating on the barrier. "Take it down, Shikamaru. He might still be alive."

Naruto was lying so still in the barrier. Shikamaru didn't see how he could be alive. He had used so much chakra unsealing the Kyuubi from himself. It was chilling watching all that red and blue chakra flowing out of his body. And even before unsealing the Kyuubi, he had erected this impenetrable barrier and then after all that forced a reverse summon on the Kyuubi.

No one had enough chakra to accomplish that, not even Naruto.

Shikamaru had done research about the sealing and unsealing of bijuu with Naruto. Removing bijuu was damned tricky. The chakra required to extract a bijuu had to be equal to the chakra of the bijuu that was being extracted if you didn't have a tool like the Sharingan or Rinnegan at your disposal. Several ninjas could combine their chakra together and extract the bijuu chakra, or you could rely on the chakra from the host and use that to extract the bijuu. If the host ran out of chakra, only part of the bijuu would be extracted, so it was usually good to use both the host's chakra and the chakra of allies.

That was assuming that you had perfect chakra control. If you had average chakra control, you might need to expend three or four times that amount. And Naruto had such poor chakra control…

He had…he had helped Naruto acquire the knowledge to do this. He was never going to forgive himself if Naruto…

There was an explosion of chakra next to them as Sakura released the Yin Seal on her forehead. The seal glowed and spread as her chakra levels increased exponentially.

"Sakura," Ino gasped. "You've been saving up chakra for three years to make that seal!"

"This is more important!" the Haruno girl yelled. She was staring intently at the still form of the blonde boy inside the barrier.

"Hurry, Shika!" Ino yelled.

"It's really strong," Shikamaru muttered. "It's going to take a little while. Just let me concentrate."

Ino nodded. She ran over to Sakura who was trying to beat down the barrier with her monster strength. That wasn't working either.

He focused on the points of the seal, trying to find a weakness. Naruto was a fool, but his skill at Fuuinjutsu couldn't be denied. It was in his blood. The barrier was flawless.

Damn.

He couldn't even overpower it with his own chakra. Naruto had used more chakra to put up the barrier than Shikamaru even had in his own body. Why would he waste chakra on something like this? Was he that set on preventing them from stopping him, the stubborn fool?

"Sakura," whispered Ino. "If the barrier he put up is still standing strong, it could mean that he's…"

The barrier fell.

"Shika?" asked Ino.

"It wasn't me," he said.

"Oh, Kami," said Ino.

Sakura took a gasping breath before racing into the barrier.

* * *

**The Endgame Chapter 35 - Interlude**

_She could hear Ino downstairs talking with her mom. She closed her eyes, willing away their voices, but they drifted up to her bedroom._

_"She's upstairs, isn't she? I can see her light on," said Ino._

_"I'm sorry, Ino," her mother apologized, "but Sakura's trying to prepare herself for this mission. She doesn't want to see anyone."_

_There was an awkward pause before her friend continued, "I understand. It must be an important mission. Teams 7 and 8 seem to be really gearing up for something special."_

_Sakura raised her head from the pillow and bit her lip. It sure was something special. They were going to hunt down Uchiha Itachi so that they could intercept Sasuke and take him back to Konoha. Kami, how was Naruto going to take it if he was unsuccessful again?_

_But how could they be successful. Sakura had a terrible foreboding. Even if they found both of the Uchiha brothers, they would never be able to convince Sasuke to return to Konoha. They would have to kill him, he was simply too dangerous. That would be how the mission would end. She was almost certain._

_She couldn't let Naruto have to endure the pain of killing his best friend. She couldn't bear it._

_Her mother's voice interrupted her thoughts. "She's been staring at that photo of her genin squad all day."_

_"It must be something about Sasuke then," Ino reasoned. "I wonder what's going on."_

_"I only know as much as you do, Ino-chan. Sakura seems really upset about her mission."_

_He said it was the promise of a lifetime when he went to retrieve Sasuke all those years ago and then turned up, unsuccessful and gravely injured. She had thought she was in love with Sasuke then. Back then she had been in love with the idea of love, with a mysterious and beautiful boy. He was like an empty stage that she could project her fantasies of love onto._

_She could see how wrong she was now. Now she knew another love, a true love. She knew how returning the love of someone could make you stronger, could make you better. How love could bring joy and pride to your heart instead of sorrow and guilt._

_She didn't deserve him, that strong, honorable, wonderful man. But he thought that she was still in love with Sasuke. His jinchuriki heart was so shattered that he couldn't understand how anyone could love him. He treated all of his friendships like sacred things. It was as if he was convinced that she or Shikamaru or Iruka would just turn around one day and say that they had changed their minds and didn't want to be his friends anymore. _

_Naruto's heart was so pure that he believed Sasuke could still be saved, that he could be brought back from the darkness. Sakura wished she could have that kind of optimism too, but she knew that it was hopeless. All Sasuke had ever done was break both of their hearts. _

_But she could do something for Naruto. She could put an end to the last Uchiha, so Naruto wouldn't have the pain of having to do it himself. Naruto would never be the same if he had to kill Sasuke. She wouldn't either, but she could bear the darkness well enough. _

_Naruto had shouldered so much darkness; he didn't need this burden as well._

* * *

**The Endgame Chapter 35 - Haruno Sakura**

The tears burned down her face as she ran to the crumbled figure in the center of the barrier.

Don't be dead…don't be dead…don't be dead.

She could feel all the chakra that she had stored up for years burning through her body. It hurt; it hurt like fire through her veins.

Why didn't she get Chiyo to teach her that life giving jutsu?

Shikamaru and Ino were running behind her. Yamato and Kakashi raced in from the other side, where they had been trying to break down the barrier themselves.

She dropped to her knees next to Naruto's body and rolled him over. She put her hands to his chest and started the emergency medical treatment. She could barely see what she was doing through her tears.

She didn't understand how, but there was still a little stream of chakra in his system.

He was truly amazing.

His heartbeat was slow and his breathing unsteady.

Sakura focused on an emergency chakra transfusion. She glanced up at Ino as the blonde girl ran up to her. "Ino," she snapped. "I need you to administer a shock to his heart to get it regulated again."

Ino fell to her knees next to her. "Sakura, is he...?"

She smiled through her tears. "I don't know how, but he's still alive."

Ino let out a breath and put a hand over her breast. "Thank Kami!" She fell to her knees across from Sakura. "I've got it."

Yamato and Kakashi ran up, "Is he…?"

"He's still alive," whispered Shikamaru to them.

Kakashi stared at the body of his student so still on the ground. A tear dripped from his eye. "That Naruto," he said. "He was probably stupid to die. What an idiot."

"But he's our idiot." Yamato smiled.

"Every village needs one," agreed Kakashi.

Sakura glared back at them as she was working on the emergency chakra transfusion. "Don't test me, Kakashi-sensei."

Kakashi grimaced. "Right, sorry. I'm just so relieved that he's alright."

Ino focused a small spark of lightening style chakra on her fingers. She shifted over the blonde boy's body before putting her fingers down on his chest and sending the spark downward into his chest; Naruto's body spasmed in response.

The blonde kunoichi checked his pulse with two fingers. "Pulse is normal." She put her ear over his mouth and looked down at the slight rise and fall of his chest and his breath puffing onto her face. "Breathing's normal."

Sakura's tears were dripping onto her hands as she focused on pouring more of her chakra into him. He had lost so much chakra. Thank Kami that she'd released the Yin Seal. If not, she would have run out of chakra long ago. She worked on pushing her chakra through his chakra network. If his chakra stopped flowing he would die. He was so chakra exhausted that what little chakra he had left had stopped flowing. His chakra network was so wide and confusing. How could anyone have enough chakra to fill this?

"Am I dead?" muttered a familiar voice.

She started, looking down at him. "Naruto, you idiot," Sakura hollered, "You're so reckless with your own life. Why did I have to fall in love with such a foolish shinobi?"

"Fall in love?" whispered Naruto.

"Yes, idiot," she sobbed. "Never ever do that to me again. I thought-"

He put a hand to her check and wiped away the tears dripping down her cheeks. His smile was like the sun breaking through the clouds. "It's going to be alright, Sakura."

He glanced around at the others. "Hey, what's up, guys?" he grinned as if he hadn't just stopped all their hearts. He looked around. "Where's Sasuke. Was he busy?"

Sakura rolled her eyes, focusing on healing his wounds. "He's probably at home not having a heart attack, unlike the rest of us."

He grinned, "Er, sorry about that."


End file.
